Examination of Witnesses (Questions 120
- 123)
TUESDAY 23 JUNE 2009
MR MATTHEW
ATHA
Q120 Mr Winnick: For the criminal
drug barons, leaving aside the people doing it on the street corner
and the rest, the petty criminals, the disgusting creatures, for
the other disgusting creatures, the drug barons and the rest who
exploit human misery, would their nightmare be a change in the
law?
Mr Atha: Obviously the drug barons
rely for their profits on the fact that drugs are illegal. The
actual cost of a gram of cocaine is a couple of quid, if you actually
get it from Brazil or Colombia or Bolivia et cetera, the actual
production cost is maybe a couple of pounds a gram, and that is
essentially pure cocaine, so by the time it gets to the streets
of Brixton it has gone up about 300-fold when you actually take
into account the level of cutting that there would be. The profit
therefore is in the illegality and the fact that people take risks
to bring it into the country, they take the risk of going down
for a very long period of time if they are caught doing so.
Q121 Mr Winnick: That is a risk that
they take.
Mr Atha: They take the risks because
of the financial rewards.
Q122 Mr Winnick: They like the existing
law for obvious reasons.
Mr Atha: Absolutely, yes. The
drug barons are the greatest friends of prohibition, except of
course when it catches up with them.
Q123 Chairman: Mr Atha, thank you
very much for giving evidence to the Committee today. If you have
any further evidence that you wish to submit to us while we are
conducting this inquiry we would be delighted to receive it.
Mr Atha: Thank you very much.
Chairman: Thank you very much.
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