Illegal drug trade
In 1730, the Qing dynasty issued an edict banning opium smoking. This early prohibition attempt marked one of the first major government efforts to control recreational drug use in history. By 1838, between four and twelve million people in China had become addicted to opium. The East India Company began smuggling Indian opium into Chinese markets during the eighteenth century. Officials in New Spain, the Ottoman Empire, Germany, Austria, and the Russian Empire all passed laws against tobacco smoking during the early modern era. These early bans set a precedent for future global drug policies. The destruction of opium at Humen led directly to the First Opium War between China and Britain in 1839. The 1842 Treaty of Nanking ended that war but did not legalize opium importation. Western merchants continued to smuggle the drug to Chinese merchants in ever-increasing amounts. The 1858 Treaty of Tianjin finally opened several ports to foreign trade including opium.
Western governments began prohibiting addictive drugs during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. In 1868, the British government restricted the sale of opium by implementing the Pharmacy Act. Control of opium remained under individual US state jurisdiction until the Harrison Act arrived in 1914. Twelve international powers signed the First International Opium Convention in 1912. Between 1920 and 1933, the Eighteenth Amendment banned alcohol in the United States. Prohibition proved almost impossible to enforce and resulted in the rise of organized crime. The modern American Mafia identified enormous business opportunities in manufacturing, smuggling, and selling illicit liquor. A report dated the 7th of January 1931 from the National Commission on Law Observance and Enforcement documented these enforcement failures. By the late 1990s, the Federal Bureau of Investigation estimated that five percent of murders in the United States were drug-related. The Mexican government later estimated that ninety percent of killings inside Mexico after border crackdowns were drug-related.
Heroin is increasingly trafficked from Afghanistan to Europe and America through eastern and southern African countries. This path is known as the southern route or smack track. Cocaine produced in Colombia and Bolivia has increasingly been shipped via West Africa. Nigeria, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Cameroon, Mali, Benin, Togo, and Ghana serve as key transit points. Police officers are often bribed because a normal monthly wage of less than two dollars cannot compete with cocaine values. Drugs sent over land through the Sahara force traders to cooperate with terrorist organizations like al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb. Venezuela became a primary path to the United States and Europe for illegal drugs originating in Colombia. Between 2008 and 2012, Venezuela's cocaine seizure ranking declined from fourth to sixth globally. According to the United Nations, cocaine trafficking through Venezuela increased significantly from 2002 to 2008. On the 10th of November 2015, Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro's nephews were arrested by the US Drug Enforcement Administration.
As of 2022, the Ba'athist government of Syria financed the biggest multi-billion dollar drug trade in the world. General Maher al-Assad, younger brother of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad, directly supervised production and smuggling operations. Profits from Captagon smuggling alone reached an estimated fifty-seven billion dollars annually in 2022. This figure represents approximately three times the total trade of all Mexican cartels combined. The regime earned more than ninety percent of its total revenue through this single drug business. In June 2023, the US State Department published a detailed report on eliminating these networks. A joint investigation by Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project and BBC News Arabic revealed Lebanese criminal kingpin Hassan Daqou collaborated with Syria's Fourth Armoured Division. Days after that documentary aired, the Assad government banned all BBC media activities within Syria. By 2022, ninety percent of all Captagon pills manufactured in Syria arrived at customer destinations worldwide despite massive seizures.
Global Financial Integrity estimates the size of the global illicit drug market between forty-two billion and sixty-five billion dollars in 2014. United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime Executive Director Antonio Maria Costa claimed illegal drug money saved the banking industry from collapse during 2008. He stated that proceeds of organized crime were the only liquid investment capital available to some banks on the brink of failure. A majority of three hundred fifty-two billion dollars of drug profits was absorbed into the economic system. In Guinea-Bissau, the value of illicit drug smuggling is almost twice the country's GDP. Drug traffickers launder money using real estate transactions where houses built with illegal funds are sold for legal cash. The UK Home Office estimated the illicit drug market at four to six point six billion pounds annually in 2007. Between local and international sales, Mexican cartels see twenty-five to thirty billion dollars yearly profit circulating through banks like HSBC.
Honduras had the highest murder rate in the world as of 2011 while seventy-nine percent of cocaine passes through its territory. Ecuador absorbed up to three hundred thousand refugees from Colombia fleeing guerrillas, paramilitaries, and drug lords. In Miami, the homicide rate between 1985 and 1995 was one of the highest in the nation. This crime rate was four times the national average and correlated with regions having low employment. The UK government's Drug Strategy Unit concluded that crime committed to support illegal habits amounts to sixteen billion pounds a year. From 2011 to 2021, synthetic opioid deaths per year increased from two thousand six hundred overdoses to seventy thousand six hundred one. Fentanyl caused over seventy-one thousand two hundred thirty-eight deaths in 2021 alone. Children as young as eight years old abuse methamphetamine called tik in South Africa using crude glass vials made from light bulbs.
Common questions
When did the Qing dynasty issue its first edict banning opium smoking?
The Qing dynasty issued an edict banning opium smoking in 1730. This early prohibition attempt marked one of the first major government efforts to control recreational drug use in history.
What was the result of the destruction of opium at Humen in 1839?
The destruction of opium at Humen led directly to the First Opium War between China and Britain in 1839. The 1842 Treaty of Nanking ended that war but did not legalize opium importation.
Which countries serve as key transit points for cocaine shipped via West Africa?
Nigeria, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Cameroon, Mali, Benin, Togo, and Ghana serve as key transit points for cocaine produced in Colombia and Bolivia. Police officers are often bribed because a normal monthly wage of less than two dollars cannot compete with cocaine values.
How much revenue did Captagon smuggling generate for Syria in 2022?
Profits from Captagon smuggling alone reached an estimated fifty-seven billion dollars annually in 2022. The regime earned more than ninety percent of its total revenue through this single drug business.
When were Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro's nephews arrested by the US Drug Enforcement Administration?
On the 10th of November 2015, Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro's nephews were arrested by the US Drug Enforcement Administration. This arrest occurred after Venezuela became a primary path to the United States and Europe for illegal drugs originating in Colombia.