Drug Traffickers: Multiple Profiles (From International Drug Trafficking, P 45-59, 1988, Dennis Rowe, ed. -See NCJ-117642)

• NCJ Number: 117646
• Author(s): A Bossard
• Date Published: 1988
• Length: 15 pages
• Sale Source: University of Illinois at Chicago
• Publication Type: Research (Theoretical)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: *This document is currently unavailable from NCJRS. A paper presented at the Second Annual Symposium on Criminal Justice Issues, August 23-26, 1987, Chicago, Ill.

Annotation

This profile of participants in drug trafficking covers the producers, transformers, carriers, distributors, and the organizers.

Abstract

The roles of these participants vary somewhat according to whether the drug is produced from a plant or from a chemical process. The initial producers of the vegetable drug products are the growers, who are typically poor peasants whose economic dependence on poppy or coca cultivation makes them vulnerable to exploitation by the organizers. Synthetic drugs, on the other hand, are usually produced in industrialized countries by major pharmaceutical firms and laboratories, and traffickers divert the drugs from the legal trade. For plant-derived drugs, the first go-betweens in the trafficking process are those who collect the products of the crop. Collecting may be done by traveling salesmen for cultivation equipment or by gang members. Transformers convert the plant product into the drug of consumption. Transformers are typically citizens of the country where the plant is produced. The laboratories for the manufacture of illicit synthetic drugs require more sophisticated equipment and better-trained people. Couriers constitute the majority of international drug traffickers. They range from users and simple carriers to those more deeply involved in trafficking. The distributors take the drugs supplied by the couriers and distribute them to the consumers. At high levels, distribution is in the hands of professional criminals with ties to the usual professional circles such as organized crime groups. The organizers generally have criminal backgrounds although not necessarily criminal records. They view themselves as businessmen who have organized their drug business according to the principles of any concern devoted to profitmaking. Because they are not directly involved in the possession and transport of the drug, it is difficult to obtain evidence sufficient to gain convictions for organizers. The common interest of all participants in drug trafficking is to make money.