Illegal drug trade

The illegal drug trade or drug trafficking is a global black market consisting of the cultivation, manufacture, distribution and sale of illegal drug. While some drugs are legal to possess and sell, in most jurisdictions laws prohibit the trade of certain types of drug. The illegal drug trade operates similarly to other underground markets. Various drug cartel specialize in the separate processes along the supply chain, often localized to maximize production efficiency. Depending on the profitability of each layer, cartels usually vary in size, consistency, and organization. The chain ranges from low-level street dealers who may be individual drug user themselves, through street gang and contractor-like middlemen, up to multinational empires that rival governments in size. Illegal drugs may be grown in wilderness areas, on farm, produced in indoor or outdoor residential garden or indoor hydroponic grow-op, or manufactured in drug lab located anywhere from a residential basement to... full article at wikipedia