The Dictionary of Human Geography

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narco-capitalism It is almost impossible to

assess the gross value of the global illegal drug

trade – a worldwide black market in the produc-

tion, processing, distribution and retailing of

illegal psychoactive substances. According to

the United Nations World Drug Report in

2006, the retail value of illegal drugs (including

drugs seized) was $322 billion. Other sources

estimate the total figure to be well in excess of

$400 billion. The trans-bordertradetypically

links – consistent with a much longer history of

the drugging of the First World by the Third –

impoverished producer states (Afghanistan,

Colombia) with transatlantic economy con-

sumers. The consumption of illegal drugs is,

however, a global phenomenon (200 million

people between 15 and 64 years have consumed

some type of illegal drug in the past 12 months,

according to the UN Drug Report in 2006).

Illicit drugs are as central to theslumworld of

Rio and Jakarta as they are in the white-collar

WallStreet and Americanghettos.Themassive

scale of the drug business and the direct (and

complex) actors in the cocaine or heroin global

commodity chain–thepeasantproducers, the

local processors, the middlemen, the whole-

salers, the mules, the drug cartels, corrupt

military and state security apparatuses and so

on – can only be grasped as a particular sort of

market– albeit exceptionally violent, well-pol-

iced, often quite competitive, and of course

illegal. Narco-capitalism refers to the structure

and organization of the production, distribution

and sale of illegal drugs, understood as a system

fortheproductionofprofit;thatistosay,aglobal

system ofaccumulationnot unlike other drugs

(sugar, coffee).

It is commonplace to assume that the key

illegal drugs – especially in trans-border

activity – are cocaine, heroin and cannabis, but

narco-capitalism also includes the illegal sale of

legaldrugs (tobacco,forexample,isoftensmug-

gled across borders, taking advantage of differ-

ential tax and tariff systems, while some

prescription drugs may be available through

illegal networks, thereby eliminating the need

to manufacture and process the drugs). Some

forms of narco-capitalism – the industrial

manufacture of LSD or methadone – may be

largely national or local in organization. The

proliferation of small-scale marijuana produc-

tion systems under hydroponic conditions may

lend itself in particular to local urban markets in

the same way that some centres of cannabis

production (northern California; Vancouver,

BC) may supply regional rather than internati-

onal demand. Narco-capitalism for hard drugs

such as cocaine, ecstasy, meth and heroin has a

number of structural features that are especially

important in understanding the dynamics of the

industry. First, a number ofkey cartels– Caliand

Medellin in Colombia, Juarez and Sonora in

Mexico and Puerto Rico – are often linked

through a syndicate-like organizational structure

(e.g. the Mexican cartels typically traffic drugs

provided by the larger Colombian cartels).

Second, the cartels cannot operate without the

complicity and active co-operation of corrupt

governments and militaries that facilitate the

transit operations by ‘mules’ (carriers).

To the extent that cocaine is representative

of narco-capitalism in general (80 per cent of

all cocaine is consumed in the USA), there

have been no large US cartels discovered,

and much of the drug profit is not returned

tolatin americabut stays in the USA, where

it is laundered for other business operations.

A number of corrupt and often militarythird

worldstates have become key actors in the

global narco-capitalism system (e.g. Nigeria

and Panama). What are called ‘failed’ or

‘rogue’ statesare often the pillars for the

world drug business. As a particular form of

capitalism, the narco-economy has two

organizational forms: the spoke-and-hub

model, in which a combination of violence

and relations of trust draw together a central

cartel and dispersed gangs and mafia-like

organizations; and a vertically integrated

‘corporate’ form of narco-capitalism, in

which the cartel controls and orchestrates the

entire commodity chain through a system of

force and consent, for which the Mafia may be

an organizational model (and to which the

drug business is in any case organically

linked). mw

Suggested reading

Clawsonn (2006); Mares (2005).

nation A product of nationalism, the

nation is nevertheless treated by nationalists

Gregory / The Dictionary of Human Geography 9781405132879_4_N Final Proof page 486 31.3.2009 3:13pm Compositor Name: ARaju