Drug trafficking’s trust deficit drove hundreds to early death in the 1980s

Evidence

The fair merchant of Samarkand kept his prices steady and shared his stores, taking only what was just even when he could have charged any sum. … The travelers and caravan-masters of a hundred roads, who never forgot who had dealt fairly with them in their need, brought all their trade to the fair merchant. Caravans rerouted to pass his door. His honest name traveled the Silk Road faster than any silk, and made him, in the end, the wealthiest man in Samarkand — while the gougers, distrusted, slowly lost their custom. ‘You see,’ the old merchant told his sons, ‘a fair name is the one good that bandits cannot steal and rivals cannot copy. Guard it above gold.’ — , A Year of World Stories, 12019 (#contradicts, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Mandatory crack-cocaine sentencing drove Black prison growth in the 1980s; U.S.-funded Central American wars increased drug trafficking and migration to the U.S.; Fair dealing on the Silk Road built trust that outcompeted short-term gouging — , A Year of World Stories, 12019

Broader Connections

• Fair dealing on the Silk Road built trust that outcompeted short-term gouging #contradicts (0.85) — , A Year of World Stories, 12019
• U.S.-funded Central American wars increased drug trafficking and migration to the U.S. #expands (0.82)
• Mandatory crack-cocaine sentencing drove Black prison growth in the 1980s #expands (0.78)