PhillyInc

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The narcotics business, strictly speaking, is a consumer trade like many others with sales cycles, marketing trends and, OK, a uniquely complicated supply chain. Globally, it's worth an estimated $320 billion, and Philadelphia long has been a major U.S. profit center. But this week, the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime concluded in a new report (7.5MB pdf) that global trends are dimming for this particular consumer business, especially in cocaine and marijuana. The report does note Colombian and Dominican drug traffickers remain particularly strong in Philadelphia and other East Coast hotspots. The Economist magazine has an interesting analysis of its own on the report this week and and agreed that future business prospects look tougher for illicit narcotics, though it said heroin remained an exception, as any Philly street cop can attest. All this is leading to speculate about what the traffickers, like any smart business people, should do next. The U.N. says diversification already has begun into other trades, illegal and not. The Economist expects more gang violence as dealers battle over fewer buyers. Great, that's all Philly needs.
- Thomas Ginsberg