Guatemala's leading anti-narcotics investigator Adan Castillo has announced that he plans to step down in December after just six months in his post, leaving the fight against the 4000 or so traffickers in the country "in God's hands".
Part of the problem is that the narcos aren't keeping their own numbers in check any more by killing each other. As a unified force they have access to resources way in excess of those at the disposal of your typical Central American state. "They have speedboats with up to four motors, modern technology, the most modern communication systems and contacts all over the American Isthmus," Adan moans. "It's easy for them."
Perhaps someone could persuade the Colombians to switch to growing star anise, the price of which has soared tenfold in recent months.
As well as being used in traditional Chinese cooking and in the distilling of pastis these spice trees provide the base ingredient for the production of Tamiflu - shikimic acid. In a notoriously complex, multi-step process this is then turned into expoxide molecule which is then engineered into the bird flu medicine using an explosive chemical called sodium azide, which is also used to inflate vehicle air bags. The difficulty and dangers of manufacture, coupled with the fact that the Chinese have a finite amount of star anise are amongst the reasons that supplies of Tamiflu may never meet potential demand. Roche says that it takes 13 grams of star anise to make 1/3 grams of shikimic acide, which can then be converted into the 10 Tamiflu capsules needed to treat one person.
Quinic acid from the bark of the cinchona tree is a possible alternative, but its main source is the perennially destabilised Congo region of Africa. There's also a Professor Frost who reckons he can ferment the acid artificially using vats of genetically-modified microbes. Meanwhile Tamiflu's inventors Gilead Sciences are attempting to regain control of their little monster from Roche, claiming that not enough is being done to produce and market the antidote to global hysteria.
