Who makes the money?

The worldwide trade in illegal drugs is estimated to be worth over £250 billion a year. So where's all that money going?

The big picture

According to the United Nations there are about 144 million cannabis users in the world, 29 million amphetamine/ecstasy type stimulants users, 14 million cocaine users and 13.5m opiates users.

That's a lot of people in the market for drugs, and a massive amount of money to be made through supply. The drug trade works like any other free market: when there's a shortage, the dealers and suppliers are able to put their prices up. When there's a surplus, prices will become cheaper to the end user.

Who gets what?

So where does the money go? Much depends on how many degrees of separation there are between the user and the supplier.

With drugs such as opiates and cocaine, there is a great geographical distance between the producing countries and the main markets in the West. Consequently, prices for these drugs can get quite high, as there are many more opportunities for the drugs to get intercepted, and many more people taking a cut along the way.

Synthetic drugs, on the other hand, can be produced in the West at cheaper and faster rates. This is why prices for drugs such as ecstasy and speed continue to drop as more and more producers enter the market.

Bulk pays off

Hypothetically speaking, if a user paid £7 for an ecstasy pill, chances are, the geezer who sold it took a few quid on the deal. If he or she bought in bulk, it would have cost as low as two or three pounds per pill, possibly from the producer, or another middleman. According to the UK Independent Drug Monitoring Unit, in 2000, on average, ecstasy cost £7 for one pill, £49 for 10 and about £277 for 100. So bulk buying cuts costs, but obviously increases the risk.

Heroin on the UK streets will have gone through many more hands between producer and user. For a start, there are the opium poppy farmers (probably in Afghanistan). According to a report in The Observer, heroin is sold on a local level in Afghan markets for between £500-£1500 a kilo. That same heroin could fetch up to £50,000 per kilo on the streets of Britain. So, somewhere along the line someone is making big money out of heroin trafficking and sales.

The future

Market forces will dictate who profits from the drug trade and by how much, as well as any kind of legislation on both a countrywide and global level. But the bottom line is that while the demand for drugs exists so that market will continue to be supplied.