Illegal drug trade
Many recreational drugs are addictive. Trade in them is driven by the neurophysiology of drug addiction, and the economics of greed and poverty.
In jurisdictions where addictive drugs are illegal, they are generally supplied by criminal drug dealers, often in the form of organized crime. The addict's need to support the high cost of illegal addictive drugs is one of the major causes of crime. Some estimates place the value of the global trade in illegal drugs at around $400 billion per year (U.S. dollars as of 2000).
Major consumer countries include the United States and Europe, although consumption is world-wide.
As with legal commerce, the illegal drug trade is multi-layered and often multi-national, with layers of manufacturers, processors, distributors, wholesalers and retailers. Financing is also important, generally involving money laundering to hide the source of the illegal profits. All of these are made more complex by their illegality, but the normal laws of economics still apply, with the efforts of law enforcement regarded by the drug trade as a extra business cost.
The high levels of greed, and the pre-existing illegality of the trade, make the participants at every level of the illegal drugs industry liable to compete with one another through violence. Some of the largest and most violent drug trafficking organizations are known as drug cartels.
Manufacturing and processing
Illegal drugs can be broken down into two major classes: those extracted from plants, and those synthesized from chemical precursors. For the first class, the growing area is important, and substantial farming is needed for mass production. For the second class, access to chemical precursors is most important.
Major drug farming and manufacturing countries include
- Colombia and other Latin American countries,
- the Asian Golden Triangle of border areas of Thailand, Burma and Laos.
- Afghanistan and border areas of Pakistan
Chemical-based illegal drugs can either be manufactured in the country of consumption, or abroad.
Distribution and wholesaling
to be written
Retail drug dealing
Street drug dealing is the bottom of the chain. Street drug dealing is sometimes associated with other crimes such as pimping. Many users also deal as a part-time activity to fund their own drug use.
See also: