Drugs which affect the body chemistry to induce changes of mood may be marketed as legal or illegal. Their classification has more to do with history and politics than the nature of the drugs themselves. Drugs are commodities traded worldwide. As with any other commodity, their production is determined by their profitability. The economies of countries such as Bolivia and Peru have become dependent on export earnings from cocaine. Narcotics are a billion dollar business. Millions of people use drugs

1. ADDICTED TO PROFIT - CAPITALISM AND DRUGS Page 1
Issue 77 of INTERNATIONAL SOCIALISM, quarterly journal of the Socialist Workers Party (Britain)
Published December 1997 Copyright © International Socialism
ADDICTED TO PROFIT - CAPITALISM AND DRUGS
Audrey Farrell
Drugs which affect the body chemistry to induce changes of mood may be marketed as legal or illegal. Their
classification has more to do with history and politics than the nature of the drugs themselves. Drugs are
commodities traded worldwide. As with any other commodity, their production is determined by their
profitability. The economies of countries such as Bolivia and Peru have become dependent on export earnings
from cocaine. Narcotics are a billion dollar business. Millions of people use drugs (for details see the United
Nations estimate in 1996 see Appendix).
The UN identify sedatives as the most commonly used drug