A drug lord, drug baron or kingpin is the term used to describe a person who controls a sizable network of persons involved in the illegal drugs trade. Such figures are often difficult to bring to justice, as they might never be directly in possession of something illegal, but are insulated from the actual trade in drugs by several layers of underlings. The prosecution of drug lords is therefore usually the result of carefully planned infiltrations of their networks, often using informants from within the organization.

Notable drug lords[link]

Pablo Escobar[link]

Pablo Emilio Escobar Gaviria (December 1, 1949 - December 2, 1993) was a Colombian drug lord. Often referred to as the "World's Greatest Outlaw," Pablo Escobar was perhaps the most elusive cocaine trafficker to have ever existed.^[1] He is regarded as the richest and most successful criminal in history because, in the year 1989, Forbes magazine declared Escobar as the seventh richest man in the world, with an estimated personal fortune of US$ 25 billion.^[2] He owned innumerable luxury residences and automobiles and in 1986 he attempted to enter Colombian politics, even offering to pay off the nation's $10 billion national debt.^[3] It is said that Pablo Escobar once burnt two million dollars in cash just to keep warm while on the run.^[4] It is these and some other infamous achievements that have made Escobar a legend in the world of crime.

Manuel Noriega[link]

Manuel Noriega, following his arrest by U.S. authorities.

For more than a decade, Panamanian Manuel Noriega was a highly paid CIA asset and collaborator, despite knowledge by U.S. drug authorities as early as 1971 that the general was heavily involved in drug trafficking and money laundering. Noriega facilitated "guns-for-drugs" flights for the contras, providing protection and pilots, as well as safe havens for drug cartel officials, and discreet banking facilities.^[5]

William Leonard Pickard[link]

From 1988 until his arrest in 2000, William Leonard Pickard served as the top manufacturer of Lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) in the world. At the time of his arrest it was estimated that Pickards organization was responsible for as many as 10 million doses of LSD per month, with an estimated street value in excess of $40 million USD. US officials reported a 90% drop in the global supply of LSD following his arrest.

Rick Ross[link]

Freeway Rick Ross

Rick Ross (born January 26, 1960^[6]), also known as "Freeway" Ricky Ross, is a convicted drug trafficker best known for the "drug empire" that he presided over in Los Angeles, in the early 1980s.^[7] The nickname "Freeway" came from Ross's ownership of several properties along the Harbor Freeway. His old house he grew up in is where a freeway now stands.^[8] During the height of his drug dealing, Ross claims to have made "$2 million in one day." According to the Oakland Tribune, "In the course of his rise, prosecutors estimate that Ross exported several tons of cocaine to New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and elsewhere, and made more than $600 million in the process."^[9]

In 1996, Ross was sentenced to life imprisonment after being convicted of trying to purchase more than 100 kilograms of cocaine from a federal agent. Ross became the subject of controversy later that year when a series of articles by journalist Gary Webb in the San Jose Mercury News brought to light a connection between one of Ross's cocaine sources, Danilo Blandon, and the CIA as part of the Iran-Contra scandal.^[10] The decision in Ross's case was brought to a federal court of appeals where his sentence was reduced to 20 years. His sentence has since been reduced further for being a model prisoner and he was moved to a halfway house in California in March 2009, and was released on September 29, 2009.^[11]

Amado Carrillo Fuentes[link]

As the top drug trafficker in Mexico, Carrillo was transporting four times more cocaine to the U.S. than any other trafficker in the world, building a fortune of over US $25 billion. He was called El Señor de los Cielos ("The Lord of the Skies") for his pioneering use of over 22 private 727 jet airliners to transport Colombian cocaine to municipal airports, and dirt airstrips around Mexico, including Juárez. In the months before his death, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration described Carrillo as the most powerful drug trafficker of his era, and many analysts claimed profits neared $25 billion, making him one of the world's wealthiest men.

Ramon Arellano Felix[link]

was a Mexican drug trafficker whom authorities linked to the Tijuana drug cartel (aka the Arellano-Félix Organization).^[12] At 188 cm (6 foot 2 inch) and 100 kg (220 lb), Arellano Félix was allegedly one of the most ruthless members of the cartel and was a suspect in various murders. Arellano Félix had been linked by Mexican police to the 1997 massacre of twelve members of a family outside of Ensenada, Baja California. The family was related to a drug dealer that had an unpaid debt to the Arellano Félix Cartel. On September 18, 1997, Ramon Arellano Félix became the 451st fugitive to be placed to the Ten Most Wanted list. Leading to his Most Wanted Fugitive listing in the United States, he had been charged in a sealed indictment in the United States District Court for the Southern District of California, with Conspiracy to Import Cocaine and Marijuana in drug trafficking.

Joaquín Guzmán Loera "El Chapo Guzmán"[link]

Joaquín Guzmán Loera

Loera is one of Mexico's top Drug Kingpins after the arrest of his rival Osiel Cardenas of the Gulf Cartel. He is well known for his use of sophisticated tunnels—similar to the one located in Douglas, Arizona--to smuggle cocaine from Mexico into the United States in the early 1990s. In 1993 a 7.3 ton shipment of his cocaine, concealed in cans of chili peppers and destined for the United States, was seized in Tecate, Baja California. In 1993 he barely escaped an ambush by the Tijuana Cartel led by Ramon Arellano Felix and his gunmen, Captured in Guatemala, he was jailed in 2001 and placed in a maximum security prison called Puente Grande, but paid his way out of prison and hid in a laundry van as it drove through the gates.^[13]

He is considered a folk hero in the narcotics world, celebrated by musicians who write and perform "corridos," extolling his exploits.^[14] For example, Los Buitres recorded a ballad extolling his life on the run:^[15]

He sleeps at times in homes,
at times in tents
Radio and rifle at the foot
of the bed
Sometimes his roof is the cave

Ismael Zambada García[link]

Zambada is hardly a household name, yet he has become the most wanted drug smuggler in Mexico,^[16] and is expected to be added soon to the FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives and DEA most wanted list, U.S. and Mexico drug agents told AP. Mexico's top anti-drug prosecutor, José Santiago Vasconcelos, called Zambada "drug dealer No. 1" and said the fugitive has become more powerful as his fellow kingpins have fallen, including one who was allegedly killed on Zambada's orders.

Klaas Bruinsma[link]

Klaas Bruinsma was a major Dutch drug lord, shot to death by mafia member and former police officer Martin Hoogland. He was known as "De Lange" ("the tall one") and also as "De Dominee" ("the preacher") because of his black clothing and his habit of lecturing others.

Arturo Beltran Leyva

Arturo Beltran Leyva[link]

(Marcos) Arturo Beltrán Leyva (September 27, 1961 – December 16, 2009) was the leader of the Mexican drug trafficking organization known as the Beltrán-Leyva Cartel, which is headed by the Beltrán Leyva brothers: Marcos Arturo, Carlos, Alfredo and Héctor.^[17][18] The cartel is responsible for cocaine, marijuana, heroin and methamphetamine production, transportation and wholesaling. It controls numerous drug trafficking corridors into the United States and is also responsible for human smuggling, money laundering, extortion, kidnapping, murder, contract killing, torture, gun-running and other acts of violence against men, women, and children in Mexico.^[19] The organization is connected with the assassinations of numerous Mexican law enforcement officials.^[19]

Frank Lucas[link]

Frank Lucas

Frank Lucas is a former heroin dealer and organized crime boss who operated in Harlem during the late 1960s and early 1970s. He was particularly known for cutting out middlemen in the drug trade and buying heroin directly from his source in the Golden Triangle. Lucas boasted that he smuggled heroin using the coffins of dead American servicemen,^[20][21] but this claim is denied by his South Asian associate, Leslie "Ike" Atkinson.^[22] His career was dramatized in the 2007 feature film American Gangster.

Leroy Barnes[link]

Leroy Antonio "Nicky" Barnes (born October 15, 1933) is a former drug lord and crime boss, who led the notorious African-American crime organization known as The Council, which controlled the heroin trade in Harlem, New York during the 1970s.^[23] In 2007 he released a book, “Mr Untouchable,” written with Tom Folsom and documentary DVD of the same name about his life.^[24][25] In the 2007 film American Gangster Barnes is portrayed by Cuba Gooding Jr..

Zhenli Ye Gon[link]

Zhenli's dirty money

Zhenli Ye Gon (traditional Chinese: 葉真理;^[26] born January 31, 1963, Shanghai, People's Republic of China) is a Mexican businessman of Chinese origin accused of trafficking pseudoephedrine into Mexico from Asia and on the time of his arrest he had 207 million U.S. dollars cash along with 18 million Mexican pesos in his house he also claimed that he was forced by Javier Alarcón, putatively identified as the Secretary of Labor, to keep it at his home, and that this money would be used during Felipe Calderón's presidential campaign in 2006. He is the legal representative of Unimed Pharm Chem México. States was dismissed with prejudice in August 2009^[27] as a result of the efforts of his attorneys, Manuel J. Retureta ^[28] and A. Eduardo Balarezo.^[29]

Christopher 'Dudus' Coke[link]

Michael Christopher Coke (born 13 March 1969),^[30] also known as Dudus,^[31] is a Jamaican drug lord and the leader of the Shower Posse gang building a fortune of over US$30 billion. He is the youngest son of drug lord Lester Lloyd Coke whose extradition had also–prior to his 1992 death in a Jamaican prison cell–been requested by the US.^[31] Until the younger Coke's hand over to US forces on 24 June 2010,^{[citation needed]} "Dudus" served as the de facto leader of Tivoli Gardens in the city of Kingston;^[31] prior to his 2010 capture Jamaican police were unable to enter this neighborhood without community consent.^[31]

The son of a prominent drug lord, Coke grew up wealthy, going to school with children of the country's political elite.^{[citation needed]} Ruling the gang where his father left off, he became a leader in the community of Tivoli Gardens, distributing money to the area's poor, creating employment and setting up community centers.^[32]

In 2009 the United States began requesting his extradition, and in May 2010 a recalcitrant Government of Jamaica issued a warrant.^[31] That same month the government took steps to capture Coke. In a run-up to Coke's arrest, more than 70 people–security forces and civilians–died in a 24 May 2010 raid of the Kingston neighborhood he was associated with.^[31] He was picked up at a Jamaican checkpoint on 22 June 2010.^[31]

Demetrius Flenory

Demetrius 'Big Meech' Flenory[link]

One of the co-founders of the Black Mafia Family, a Detroit-based drug trafficking organization involving the large scale distribution of cocaine throughout the United States from 1990 through 2005.^[33] At the height of his career, he became the highest-earning black drug lord in US history.^[34][35]

Current trends[link]

After the death of Pablo Escobar in 1993, the world of the drug lord had taken a major turn in its departing from massive cartels such as Juan David Ochoa's Medellín cartel. More recently, drug lords are breaking up the large cartels of the past into much smaller organizations of the future. In doing so, they not only decrease the number of people involved but also put a much smaller target on themselves—most likely in an attempt to avoid the fate of their predecessors. With newer technology, drug lords are able to manage their operations more effectively from behind the scenes; keeping themselves out of the spotlight and off of the FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives and the DEA list also. These smaller cartels are slowly proving to be not only more profitable for those involved but also much safer.^[36]

Up until the demise of Pablo Escobar, in many instances drug lords essentially ran the governments of the locations they controlled (through bribery and assassinations), and everything associated with them. However, as the years press forward, this way of controlling their operations is becoming less prevalent. One of the most notorious examples of the treatment given to drug lords is in the incarceration of Escobar. Although Escobar was, after turning himself in, jailed for his participation in drug trafficking in Colombia, the "jail" in which he was captive was a million-dollar palace built with his own funds. Another famous crime lord that enjoyed lightened jail life was Al Capone. Capone continued to run his business from his jail cell, a cell that contained tables, chairs, a bed, flowers and paintings. To drug lords of the past jail was simply a way to avoid further persecution. In recent times, this has also changed—no longer are drug lords in control of local and regional governments. This causes them to give up some of their control over their surroundings and also their ability to continue to run their businesses from behind bars.^[20][37]

Another trend that has been emerging in the last decade is the willingness of local authorities to cooperate with foreign nations, most notably the United States, in an effort to apprehend and incarcerate drug lords. Recently (especially in the last five years), countries have been more and more willing to extradite their drug lords to face charges in other countries, an act that not only benefits them directly but also gives them favor with foreign governments. "In 2006 Mexico extradited 63 drug dealers to the US," a record number for them. The only issue here is the worst criminals are often never extradited as Mexico and other countries refuse to send people who would be facing the death penalty at their destination, as it is not legal in those countries.^[21][22]

In fiction[link]

Drug lords are a popular choice for the lead villain in many action movies and television shows, having been featured for such purposes in the Lethal Weapon and Bad Boys series and in TV series such as Miami Vice, Homicide: Life on the Street, and The Shield. A drug lord was prominent in the 1989 miniseries Traffik. Perhaps the most famous fictitious movie drug lords were Tony Montana, who was played by Al Pacino, and Alejandro Sosa, who was played by Paul Shenar, both in the movie Scarface.

Some popular portrayals of drug lords have been fictionalized accounts of real persons. A noted example of this are the films American Gangster, starring Denzel Washington as drug lord Frank Lucas and Blow, starring Johnny Depp as George Jung. Main character Klaas Jonkers from the Dutch movie The Preacher has been (partly) based on the Dutch drug lord Klaas Bruinsma.

Other notable fictional drug lords include most notably the unspecified Latin American Franz Sanchez, who was played by Robert Davi in the James Bond movie Licence to Kill, and the Colombian Orlando Calderone, played by Miguel Pinero who was the foil in the Miami Vice TV series.

Drug Lords are also featured in several videogames, most notably the Grand Theft Auto series,specially Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, in which Vice City is moy controlled by the drug lord Ricardo Diaz.

In the video game Star Wars: Bounty Hunter, King Sebolto of Malastare is a well known drug lord peddling death sticks all over the galaxy.

In 2 Fast 2 Furious, Carter Verone, (played by Cole Hauser) was a ruthless Argentian drug lord.

In the seventh season of NCIS, one of the recurring villains is Paloma Reynosa is the head of the fictional Reynosa drug cartel.

In the upcoming film Prince of Malacca, the main villain is a billionaire drug lord in a Southeast Asian drug cartel.

See also[link]

• List of Mexico's 37 most-wanted drug lords
• Drug cartel
• War on drugs

References[link]

External links[link]

• 31 Notorious Drug Lords - slideshow by Life magazine

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (November 2009)

Coffee is the most widely used psychoactive drug beverage in the world. In 1999, the average consumption of coffee was 3.5 cups per day per U.S. citizen.^[1]

Wine is a common alcoholic beverage.^[2]

A drug, broadly speaking, is any substance that, when absorbed into the body of a living organism, alters normal bodily function.^[3] There is no single, precise definition, as there are different meanings in drug control law, government regulations, medicine, and colloquial usage.^[4]

In pharmacology, a drug is "a chemical substance used in the treatment, cure, prevention, or diagnosis of disease or used to otherwise enhance physical or mental well-being."^[4] Drugs may be prescribed for a limited duration, or on a regular basis for chronic disorders.^[5]

The molecules of drugs are complex, and most of them consist of many hydrogen and carbon atoms, a few oxygen atoms, and one or a few nitrogen atoms. Drugs may also have no nitrogen atoms in it and many may have chlorine atoms in it, such as chloral hydrate.

Recreational drugs are chemical substances that affect the central nervous system, such as opioids or hallucinogens.^[5] They may be used for perceived beneficial effects on perception, consciousness, personality, and behavior.^[5][6] Some drugs can cause addiction and/or habituation.^[6]

Drugs are usually distinguished from endogenous biochemicals by being introduced from outside the organism.^{[citation needed]} For example, insulin is a hormone that is synthesized in the body; it is called a hormone when it is synthesized by the pancreas inside the body, but if it is introduced into the body from outside, it is called a drug.^{[citation needed]} Many natural substances, such as beers, wines, and psychoactive mushrooms, blur the line between food and recreational drugs, as when ingested they affect the functioning of both mind and body and some substances normally considered drugs such as DMT (Dimethyltryptamine) are actually produced by the human body in trace amounts.

Etymology[link]

Drug is thought to originate from Old French "drogue", possibly deriving later into "droge-vate" from Middle Dutch meaning "dry barrels", referring to medicinal plants preserved in them.^[7]

Medication[link]

Nexium pills 40 mg
(esomeprazole magnesium)

A medication or medicine is a drug taken to cure and/or ameliorate any symptoms of an illness or medical condition, or may be used as preventive medicine that has future benefits but does not treat any existing or pre-existing diseases or symptoms.

Dispensing of medication is often regulated by governments into three categories—over-the-counter (OTC) medications, which are available in pharmacies and supermarkets without special restrictions, behind-the-counter (BTC), which are dispensed by a pharmacist without needing a doctor's prescription, and prescription only medicines (POM), which must be prescribed by a licensed medical professional, usually a physician.^{[citation needed]}

In the United Kingdom, BTC medicines are called pharmacy medicines which can only be sold in registered pharmacies, by or under the supervision of a pharmacist. These medications are designated by the letter P on the label.^[8] The range of medicines available without a prescription varies from country to country.

Medications are typically produced by pharmaceutical companies and are often patented to give the developer exclusive rights to produce them, but they can also be derived from naturally occurring substance in plants called herbal medicine.^{[citation needed]} Those that are not patented (or with expired patents) are called generic drugs since they can be produced by other companies without restrictions or licenses from the patent holder.

Spiritual and religious use[link]

The spiritual and religious use of drugs has been occurring since the dawn of our species. Drugs that are considered to have spiritual or religious use are called entheogens. Some religions are based completely on the use of certain drugs. Entheogens are mostly hallucinogens, being either psychedelics or deliriants, but some are also stimulants and sedatives.

Self-improvement[link]

Nootropics, also commonly referred to as "smart drugs", are drugs that are claimed to improve human cognitive abilities. Nootropics are used to improve memory, concentration, thought, mood, learning, and many other things. Some nootropics are now beginning to be used to treat certain diseases such as attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, Parkinson's disease, and Alzheimer's disease. They are also commonly used to regain brain function lost during aging. Similarly, Drugs such as steroids improve human physical capabilities and are sometimes used (legally or not) for this purpose, often by professional athletes.

Recreational drug use[link]

The cigarette is the common pharmaceutical form of tobacco – one of the world’s best selling drugs.^[9]

Cannabis is another commonly used recreational drug.^[10]

Peruvian Ayahuasca

Recreational drugs use is the use of psychoactive substances to have fun, for the experience, or to enhance an already positive experience. National laws prohibit the use of many different recreational drugs and medicinal drugs that have the potential for recreational use are heavily regulated. Many other recreational drugs on the other hand are legal, widely culturally accepted, and at the most have an age restriction on using and/or purchasing them. These include alcohol, tobacco, betel nut, and caffeine products in the west, and in other localised areas of the world drugs such as Khat are common. Because of the legal status of many drugs, recreational drug use is controversial, with many governments not recognising spiritual or other perceived uses for drugs and classing them under illegal recreational use.

Administering drugs[link]

Drugs, both medicinal and recreational, can be administered in a number of ways. Many drugs can be administered in a variety of ways rather than just one.

• Bolus
• Inhaled, (breathed into the lungs), as an aerosol or dry powder. (This includes smoking a substance)
• Injected as a solution, suspension or emulsion either: intramuscular, intravenous, intraperitoneal, intraosseous.
• Insufflation, or snorted into the nose.
• Orally, as a liquid or solid, that is absorbed through the intestines.
• Rectally as a suppository, that is absorbed by the rectum or colon.
• Sublingually, diffusing into the blood through tissues under the tongue.
• Topically, usually as a cream or ointment. A drug administered in this manner may be given to act locally or systemically.^[11]
• Vaginally as a suppository, primarily to treat vaginal infections.

Legal definition of drugs[link]

Some governments define the term drug by law. In the United States, the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act definition of "drug" includes "articles intended for use in the diagnosis, cure, mitigation, treatment, or prevention of disease in man or other animals" and "articles (other than food) intended to affect the structure or any function of the body of man or other animals."^[12] Consistent with that definition, the U.S. separately defines narcotic drugs and controlled substances, which may include non-drugs, and explicitly excludes tobacco, caffeine and alcoholic beverages.^[13]

Governmental controls[link]

The examples and perspective in this section may not represent a worldwide view of the subject. Please improve this article and discuss the issue on the talk page. (November 2009)

In Canada the government has moved to remove the influence of drug companies on the medical system.^{[citation needed]} “The influence that the pharmaceutical companies, the for-profits, are having on every aspect of medicine ... is so blatant now you'd have to be deaf, blind and dumb not to see it,” said Journal of the American Medical Association editor Dr. Catherine DeAngelis.^[14][15]

See also[link]

Pharmacy and Pharmacology portal

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Drug

• DrugBank, a database of 4800 drugs and 2500 protein drug targets
• The Cult of Pharmacology: How America Became the World's Most Troubled Drug Culture by Richard DeGrandpre, Duke University Press, 2006.

v t e Recreational drug use Major recreational drugs Opioids Buprenorphine (Subutex · Suboxone) Codeine Dextropropoxyphene (Darvon · Darvocet) Diamorphine (heroin) \ Morphine (Opium) Hydrocodone Hydromorphone (Dilaudid) Methadone Mitragyna speciosa (Kratom) Oxycodone Depressants Barbiturates Benzodiazepines Ethanol (Alcoholic beverages) GHB Kava Nonbenzodiazepines Stimulants Amphetamine Arecoline (Areca) Betel Caffeine (Coffee Tea) Cathinone (Khat) Cocaine (Coca) Ephedrine (Ephedra) Mephedrone Methamphetamine Methylphenidate Nicotine (Tobacco) Theobromine (Cocoa) Entactogens MDA MDMA (Ecstasy) Hallucinogens Psychedelics Bufotenin Psychoactive toads Vilca Yopo DMT (Ayahuasca) LSA LSD-25 Mescaline Peruvian Torch Peyote San Pedro Psilocybin \ Psilocin (Psilocybin mushrooms) Dissociatives DXM Inhalants Nitrous oxide alkyl nitrites – poppers, such as amyl nitrite Ketamine MXE Muscimol (Amanita muscaria) PCP Salvinorin A (Salvia divinorum) Deliriants Atropine and Scopolamine Datura Deadly Nightshade Henbane Mandrake Dimenhydrinate Diphenhydramine Cannabinoids JWH-018 THC (Cannabis Hashish Hash oil) Oneirogens Calea zacatechichi Silene capensis Drug culture Cannabis 420 Cannabis cultivation Cannabis smoking Legal history of cannabis in the United States Legality of cannabis Marijuana Policy Project Medical cannabis NORML Religious and spiritual use of cannabis Stoner film Psychedelic Art Drug Experience Literature Music Other Club drug Counterculture of the 1960s Dance party Drug paraphernalia Drug tourism Entheogen Hippie Party and play Poly drug use Rave Self-medication Sex and drugs Problems with drug use Abuse Dependence Prevention Opioid replacement therapy Rehabilitation Responsible use Drug-related crime Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder Illegal drug trade Long-term effects of cannabis Neurotoxicity Overdose Date-rape drug Passive smoking (of tobacco or other substances) Legality of drug use International 1961 Narcotic Drugs 1971 Psychotropic Substances 1988 Drug Trafficking Cannabis reform at the international level State level Drug policy Decriminalization Prohibition Supply reduction Policy reform Demand reduction Drug Policy Alliance Harm reduction Law Enforcement Against Prohibition Liberalization Students for Sensible Drug Policy Transform Drug Policy Foundation Drug policy by country Australia Canada Germany India Netherlands Portugal Sweden Switzerland Soviet Union United States Just Say No Office of National Drug Control Policy School district drug policies California Colorado Maryland Virginia Other Arguments for and against drug prohibition Capital punishment for drug trafficking Designer drug Drug court Drug possession Drug test Hard and soft drugs Illegal drug trade in Colombia Mexican Drug War Narc Opium production in Afghanistan Politics of drug abuse War on Drugs Zero tolerance Lists of countries by... Alcohol consumption Cannabis legality Annual use Lifetime use Cigarette consumption Cocaine use Opiates use