ABSTRACT
The worldwide trade in illicit drugs ranks after the gross domestic products (GDP) of the United States and Japan as the world's third largest economy; it is a global business whose organizers constantly shift their operations so that it cannot be brought under control. An estimate of February 1999 gave the US GDP as US$8108 billion, Japan as US$3973 billion and the drugs trade as US$3230 billion. This figure was regarded as a mid-range estimate of the value of the trade, which might in fact be worth as much as US$5000 billion. Given a trade on this scale it is unlikely, no matter how great the efforts of drug enforcement agencies, that it can be stopped. There are, quite simply, too many people making profits, too many making a living and too many seeking the end products of the trade for it to be brought under control.
