# You find a brick of Cocaine. Now what? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 17, 2005, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-find-a-brick-of-cocaine-now-what/331474 "2005-11-17T13:03:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Uncommon\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Uncommon\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uncommon_Sense)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2005, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-find-a-brick-of-cocaine-now-what/331474/1 "2005-11-17T13:03:14Z")
Say you’re driving along a quiet street and you happen to notice something strange laying in the gutter. You turn the car around and take a closer look. The package seems to be some kind of tightly wrapped powdery substance. You look around and no-one appears to be watching you. What do you do next? Take it home? Take it to the cops? Test it out to see if it’s coke (what if it’s poisoned, or not really coke?)? How do you test it to determine the purity and street value? Say if it is coke, and the street value is several tens of thousands of dollars, maybe close to a hundred grand by your estimates if sold off in small amounts. Do you try to sell it a gram at a time to incrue the most monetary gain or try to sell it asap in one lump (both have their disadvantages/advantages)? Keep it for many months of enjoyment? Use it to build _very_ close friendships? Become an addict? What do you do? BTW, this did not happen to me, but I can dream can’t I? ---
**Author:** ![gouda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c77e96/32.png) [@gouda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gouda)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2005, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-find-a-brick-of-cocaine-now-what/331474/2 "2005-11-17T13:06:06Z")
Flush it down the toilet. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2005, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-find-a-brick-of-cocaine-now-what/331474/3 "2005-11-17T13:10:49Z")
Send it back to George W. ---
**Author:** ![Driver8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5a626/32.png) [@Driver8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Driver8)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2005, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-find-a-brick-of-cocaine-now-what/331474/4 "2005-11-17T13:11:50Z")
Completely ignore it. I probably wouldn’t even have gotten as far as “turn the car around and take a closer look”. ---
**Author:** ![One\_And\_Only\_Wanderers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/838e76/32.png) [@One\_And\_Only\_Wanderers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/One_And_Only_Wanderers)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2005, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-find-a-brick-of-cocaine-now-what/331474/5 "2005-11-17T13:17:01Z")
Police, definitely. As an aside, what do you do when the police give you some drugs? [BBC Link](http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/lincolnshire/4428372.stm) ---
**Author:** ![Uncommon\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Uncommon\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uncommon_Sense)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2005, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-find-a-brick-of-cocaine-now-what/331474/6 "2005-11-17T13:32:06Z")
> [@Driver8](#): > > Completely ignore it. I probably wouldn’t even have gotten as far as “turn the car around and take a closer look”. Yeah, but you did. And now it’s in your possession. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2005, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-find-a-brick-of-cocaine-now-what/331474/7 "2005-11-17T13:36:45Z")
Stop the car, call the police on my mobile phone and follow whatever instruction they recommend. ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2005, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-find-a-brick-of-cocaine-now-what/331474/8 "2005-11-17T13:36:54Z")
They told me in school I should take it to a grown-up. ---
**Author:** ![Trunk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/87869e/32.png) [@Trunk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trunk)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2005, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-find-a-brick-of-cocaine-now-what/331474/9 "2005-11-17T13:40:12Z")
Starrrrrrt sniffin’. ---
**Author:** ![gaucho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c67d28/32.png) [@gaucho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaucho)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2005, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-find-a-brick-of-cocaine-now-what/331474/10 "2005-11-17T13:41:56Z")
I’d be reenacting scenes from Scarface. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2005, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-find-a-brick-of-cocaine-now-what/331474/11 "2005-11-17T13:43:26Z")
“A friend” picked up an umbrella at a bus stop. When “a friend” opened it two weeks later, a wad of cash and a baggie of white powder fell out. “A friend” kept the cash and flushed the powder down the City Hall toilet. ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2005, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-find-a-brick-of-cocaine-now-what/331474/12 "2005-11-17T14:02:56Z")
Leave it where you found it. The original owners are quite likely looking for it. If you try going into the coke business yourself or try to sell their property back to them, they may well decide to eliminate you. Unless you are already a part of that life, you have no idea how to survive a ruthless environment like illegal drug sales. You’ll end up robbed by customers or other dealers for sure and possibly killed as well. ---
**Author:** ![TommyTutone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c4cdca/32.png) [@TommyTutone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TommyTutone)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2005, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-find-a-brick-of-cocaine-now-what/331474/13 "2005-11-17T14:09:09Z")
> [@gaucho](#): > > I’d be reenacting scenes from Scarface. I’d be reenacting scenes from True Romance. ---
**Author:** ![WotNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e19b73/32.png) [@WotNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WotNot)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2005, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-find-a-brick-of-cocaine-now-what/331474/14 "2005-11-17T14:17:36Z")
Well, given that I’ve stopped (which I wouldn’t), and that I’ve recognised the package as an illicit substance (which is unlikely), I’d do as **Mangetout** suggests and call the cops on my mobile. I _could_ take it to them, I suppose, but I’d be a little nervous of being stopped on the way: “Can you explain the kilogram of Class-A drugs on your passenger seat, sir?” “Of course I can, Officer … though now I think about it, I’m not sure how convincing you’re going to find it …” ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2005, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-find-a-brick-of-cocaine-now-what/331474/15 "2005-11-17T14:24:58Z")
9-1-1 is your friend. Call and let them handle it. Jim ---
**Author:** ![Green\_Bean](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/green_bean/32/1760_2.png) [@Green\_Bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Bean)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2005, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-find-a-brick-of-cocaine-now-what/331474/16 "2005-11-17T14:35:41Z")
Something like this happened to a friend of the family. They purchased a new place in Miami. They were doing some renovating, and opened a wall. There, they found a cache of drugs and guns and cash. They didn’t know what the heck to do, so they just called the cops, who took care of it. If I found something like that or the brick of cocaine, I’d just call the cops. Whatever potential gain I could hope to make from it would be far outweighed by the risk I’d take in knowingly possessing it or selling it. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2005, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-find-a-brick-of-cocaine-now-what/331474/17 "2005-11-17T14:48:11Z")
Walk away from it and call it in. I sure don’t want to be holding it when whoever’s _really_ supposed to pick it up shows up asking where is it, as I intend to die of natural causes a long time in the future. ---
**Author:** ![Uncommon\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Uncommon\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uncommon_Sense)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2005, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-find-a-brick-of-cocaine-now-what/331474/18 "2005-11-17T15:02:55Z")
> [@Revtim](#): > > They told me in school I should take it to a grown-up. “Thankyou very much, Johnny. Now run along, Daddy has to dispose of this.” ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2005, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-find-a-brick-of-cocaine-now-what/331474/19 "2005-11-17T15:08:08Z")
I knew it! ---
**Author:** ![An\_Arky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/87869e/32.png) [@An\_Arky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Arky)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2005, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-find-a-brick-of-cocaine-now-what/331474/20 "2005-11-17T15:11:24Z")
What? No “I’m gonna take half of it down to the local high school and sell it, get some bling bling, then the rest - up the ol’ schnozzola!” Wimps. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-find-a-brick-of-cocaine-now-what/331474.md?page=2)