Is that an accurate portrayal of reality? How much money is actually flowing through international drug trade schemes, and how is that money filtering down from the top to your average street dealer? We all knew a drug dealer or two at some point in our lives, whether we knew it — it may have been a burnout high school friend, the guy living in a sketchy house at the end of the street, or even your own doctor or pharmacist. How much money any individual makes from the drug trade or from dealing depends on numerous factors, but it mostly comes down to simple supply and demand laws. You have to start by looking at the overall market — that is, how big the drug trade is in terms of dollars and cents. That mostly involves the trafficking of drugs like heroin, cocaine, and marijuana. Some drugs, clearly, are harder to cultivate and transport, giving them a higher street value. But heroin and cocaine? Those drugs are typically produced in specific parts of the world, like South America and C...