WHAT THE BUST MEANS IN STREET SALES
How many “rocks†of cocaine are in 20 tons? About 90 million if the chunks are of the average 1/5-gram size typically sold on the streets of Los Angeles for $20 to $25.
And those 90 million rocks would have to be of absolutely pure cocaine, not the diluted stuff, or “crack,†that the average cocaine user smokes.
If the drug was cut, or diluted, three times, as it is typically for street sales, there would be nearly 270 million rocks. That’s enough to provide a rock a day for 10 days to every one of the 27 million people who live in California.
It’s enough to give every Angeleno--3 million people--a rock a day for three months.
On the street, according to the calculations of Los Angeles Police Department narcotics officers, the uncut cocaine would be worth about $2 billion. Cut, it would be three times that.
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