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speeches, it refers to activities that can involve as few as two nations. The term “global,”
for its part, offers a much more compelling reminder of the vast playing field upon which
drug traffickers operate, and of the broad selection of alternative producing and transit
countries from which narco-mercantilists can freely choose in planning individual operations.
The term “clandestine” reflects one of the two key differences between drug trafficking
and any other international business. Drug traffickers must, at least nominally,
keep their activities hidden from law enforcement agencies. The term “criminal” reflects
the second of these key differences. While drug traffickers may be able to operate in defiance
of the governments of many impoverished countries with ineffective internal control
of their national territories, or enjoy extensive protection afforded by corrupt officials in
other countries, drug trafficking still violates numerous laws in virtually every country.
Finally, the tern “industry” reflects the basic nature of drug trafficking. While their activities
may be hidden and illegal, drug traffickers produce and sell products to make a profit;
they do it for the money. Further, they must continue doing it to achieve and maintain
their desired levels of success in the industry. Although drug traffickers are often associated
with such other international problems as insurgency and terrorism, the raison d’etre
of drug trafficking is money. The intended disposition of this money may be tied to other
threats to international stability, but where drug trafficking is a source of capital accumulation,
the profit motive is instrumental t narcotics trafficking.
PECUNIA NON OLET: MONEY DOES NOT RETAIN THE SMELL
OF ITS ORIGIN
No verifiable estimates of the total amount of money being generated by international
drug trafficking exist, but raw figures ranging into the hundreds of billions of dollars are
close enough to cause even first world governments serious concerns. Though total drug
revenues are wide dispersed among trafficking organizations, the evidence is compelling
that drug trafficking is putting huge amounts of unregulated money into the hands of
criminals and groups with a penchant for violence. Even unsuccessful aspirants to drug
trafficking wealth can benefit from their more successful colleagues. For one thing, an
individual drug criminal does not have to make millions in order to feel that he is at least
on the way to wealth. He only needs to make more money than he could make doing anything
else that may be available to him. For thousands of lower-level participants in poverty-stricken
countries where drug crops are raised, shipments transit en route to world
markets, amounts as small as a five hundred dollars, minute operating expenses for more
important traffickers are sufficient inducement to attract a reliable labor pool for even the
most dangerous and demanding jobs in the trafficking industry. Hence, the continuing
anticipation that anyone can become rich in drug trafficking, confirmed by the relatively
smaller number of those who truly succeed proves an irresistible lure for the poor and the
desperate whom the industry recruits.
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