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	NARCOTERRORISM>
	What is narcoterrorism? According to the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), narcoterrorism refers to terrorist acts carried out by groups that are directly or indirectly involved in cultivating, manufacturing, transporting, or distributing illicit drugs. The term is generally applied to groups that use the drug trade to fund terrorism. However, it has also sometimes been used to refer to the phenomenon of increasingly close ties between powerful drug lords motivated by simple criminal profit and terrorist groups with political agendas, particularly in Colombia. But some experts say that the term is too vague and is mostly used by politically driven Western politicians and journalists out to score rhetorical points. They argue that nearly every terrorist group operating today raises some money from the drug trade, and that while terrorists and drug traffickers often share some short-term goals, they have different long-term objectives (political goals for terrorists, greed for drug lords) and shouldn't be conflated. How are terrorist groups connected to the drug trade? In several ways. Some terrorist groups, like Colombia's FARC, collect taxes from people who cultivate or process illicit drugs on lands that it controls; others, including Hezbollah and Colombia's AUC, traffic in drugs themselves. Moreover, some terrorist groups are supported by states funded by the drug trade; Afghanistan's former Taliban rulers, for instance, earned an estimated $40 million to $50 million per year from taxes related to opium. The drug trade is also a significant part of the economies of Syria-which has funded terrorist organizations such as Hezbollah, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command, and Palestinian Islamic Jihad and Lebanon, a haven for numerous terrorist groups including Hezbollah and Hamas. Why would terrorists turn to drug trafficking? Because they need money-for weapons, equipment, training, computers and other information systems, transportation, bribes, safe houses, forged passports and other documents, and even payroll. Drugs are a handy way to get cash-lots of it. Is the drug trade lucrative? Extremely. Heroin, cocaine, and marijuana are uncomplicated and cheap to produce, but because they're illegal and therefore risky to supply, they can earn more than their weight in gold on the vast international black market. The United Nations estimated in 1998 that the illicit drug business generates about $400 billion per year. Also, because the drug trade is secretive, terrorists can amass large sums of cash without being detected by authorities. Is narcoterrorism increasing since September 11? Perhaps. U.S. authorities say the new international climate-including crackdowns on terrorist funding and growing international pressure on state sponsors of terrorism-may drive some terrorists deeper into the drug trade. One example is Hezbollah. Do terrorists use the drug trade to wreak havoc? They might, some experts say. Osama bin Laden has reportedly advocated using narcotics trafficking to weaken Western societies by supplying them with addictive drugs. (In 2000, Americans spent almost $63 billion on illegal narcotics.)