“We are overwhelmed with the news regarding the passing of Don
Cornelius. Our deepest sympathy and thoughts are with his family at
this time. He was a true television visionary and his contributions to
African American culture, music, and entertainment are incomparable.
The outpouring of affection and tributes to his legacy are a true
testament to the profound impact that his life’s work had on many
generations.” -Kenard Gibbs, CEO of Soul Train Holdings

“Don Cornelius was a pioneer, an innovator, and a trailblazer. He was
the first African-American to create, produce, host and more
importantly OWN his own television show. Soul Train was a nationally
syndicated show that paved the way for singers, musicians and dancers,
giving them the ultimate platform to showcase their talents when no
one else would. Every Saturday morning I looked forward to watching
Soul Train, as did millions of other people. Soul Train taught the
world how to dance! Don’s contribution to us all is immeasurable. He
will truly be missed. I thank him for trusting me with his Soul Train
brand and I will carry on his legacy through it. My condolences to his
son and my good friend Tony Cornelius and the entire Cornelius
family.” -Earvin “Magic” Johnson, Soul Train Holdings Chairman

DonDiva Family would like to send our condolences to Don Cornelius’s family and to the  Soul Train Family. He is forever in our Hearts!

Drugs, as anyone with more than a passing interest in global black markets knows, are big business. According to the United Nations World Drug Report of 2011, 210 million people use illicit drugs every year. That’s a huge market, and as we shall see, there are any number of criminals eager to capitalize on this demand. Join us as we take a look at 10 of the largest illegal drug trades on Earth.

10. Khat

Khat is a plant found in East Africa and the Arabian Peninsula at contains a stimulant akin to amphetamines. Estimated to be used regularly by several million people, it causes a high that can create excitement and euphoria as well as stifling the appetite. The drug, which is usually chewed by the user, is extremely popular in countries such as Ethiopia, Kenya and Yemen, where it is part of the fabric of society — and where its cultivation can generate income several times that of fruits for local farmers. In the United States and most of the Western world, however, it is a controlled illegal substance and huge profits are obtainable for dealers in the drug. According to one source, in 2006 the US street price of khat was around $700 a kilogram, compared to $1 a kilo in East Africa.

9. Temazepam

Temazepam is a potent hypnotic benzodiazepine — a group of sedatives sometimes known colloquially as “benzos.” Used as a prescription drug in anti-anxiety treatment, it also has another life as a powerful and sought-after street drug. Taken in higher doses, the effects can be similar to alcohol, with increased confidence and a lack of inhibitions shown by users. Surveys conducted in many different countries have found that temazepam is one of the most abused drugs in the world. To supply this demand, and line the pockets of drug traders, numerous illegal “jellie labs” that manufacture the drug have been set up — and shut down — in Russia and Eastern Europe.

8. Ketamine

Ketamine is a drug primarily intended for use in veterinary medicine, and although used on many different animals it is perhaps most popularly known as a horse tranquilizer. This gives an idea of how strong a drug it can be when humans make use of it recreationally. Sometimes known “K,” ketamine produces a powerful dissociative state, and its users may experience what is known as a “K-hole,” a condition which purportedly replicates schizophrenic or out-of-body experiences. Although figures are scarce on the profits generated by the illegal trade in the drug, in 2009, 6.9 tons of ketamine were seized across Asia — a haul that, according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, represented 85 percent of the global total.

7. LSD

Lysergic acid diethylamide, commonly known as LSD or simply acid, is a well-known psychedelic drug first synthesized by the Swiss chemist Albert Hofmann back in 1938. Since the ’60s, its history has been inextricably linked with notions of cultural revolution popularized in music and by figures such as Timothy Leary, who famously called on people to “turn on, tune in, drop out.” Yet a man known as William Leonard Pickard did possibly more than anyone else past or present to distribute the powerful hallucinogenic drug across the world. Following the arrest of Pickard and his partner Clyde Apperson in 2000 — the largest LSD-manufacturing bust of all time — there was reportedly 90 percent decrease in the global availability of the drug. It’s claimed the pair produced a kilo of LSD every five weeks, worth about $2.97 million to them and a quantity capable of providing tens of million of doses. Which producers and traffickers have since filled the gap in the market remains to be seen.

6. Ecstasy

Ecstasy, known as a clubbing drug and commonly taken in pill form, is responsible for $16.07 billion worth of global sales and used by 19.5 million people worldwide according to Havocscope.com, the online database of black markets (and based on findings by the UN World Drug Reports of 2005 and 2011, respectively). The production and export of “E” or “X” has for many years been associated with Europe, although the market has increasingly moved elsewhere in recent times. In fact, according to the UN’s World Drug Report of 2011, “Europe’s share in global ecstasy seizures declined from 90% in 1996 to 18% in 2009.” In the United States, meanwhile, officials are looking to stem the flow of ecstasy from Canada, with the drug selling for two to three times the price in the US as compared with north of the border. In 2010, American customs officers seized 1,460 pounds of the substance at the Canadian border.

5. Amphetamines

According to Havocscope (based on the findings of the UN World Drug Reports of 2005 and 2011) trade in amphetamines makes up $28.25 billion of the global black market, while the number of users worldwide is believed to currently stand at 35.5 million. The drug, commonly known on the street as “speed,” was used by more people (60%) in Asia than anywhere else as of 2004, but overall the manufacture of the drug appears to be centered in Europe. According to the United Nation’s World Drug Report of 2011, 44 of the world’s amphetamine laboratories were reported to the authorities in 2009; the majority were located in Europe.

4. Methamphetamine

Methamphetamine, not to be confused with amphetamines more generally, is commonly known as crystal meth and has been dubbed the “most abused drug on Earth” by the United Nations. The powerful psychostimulant drug, which produces an intense high by releasing high levels of dopamine in the brain, is also highly addictive, making it an attractive commodity for drug dealers. Time magazine has estimated the value of meth originating in Mexico from the labs of illegal drug cartels, then entering and sold on the streets in United States, at $20 billion. Meanwhile, the head of the DEA, Karen Tandy, claimed in 2006 that the users of the drug outnumber the total users of cocaine and heroin worldwide.

3. Heroin

Heroin is an opiate widely held to be one of the most destructive drugs in the world. Highly addictive, when used with sufficient regularity it can control and dictate users’ lives, leaving them quite literally desperate for a dose. Nowadays, the vast majority of the world’s heroin originates in Afghanistan: in 2007, 93 percent of opiates worldwide could be traced back to the cultivation of opium poppies in the war-ravaged country. With an export value of around $64 billion, the opiate production in Afghanistan represents a huge chunk of the global drug market (with the total value of the heroin and opium market placed at $68 billion by the UN’s 2011 World Drug Report). Another big player in the world heroin market is Myanmar (formerly Burma), which represents the hub of the “Golden Triangle” and was, until the 21st century, at the top of the tree for production of the drug.

2. Cocaine

Based on the UN’s 2011 findings, Havocscope puts the world black market value of cocaine at $85 billion, though some other sources suggest an even higher; $122 billion, estimates Morss Global Finance. Whatever the true figure, cocaine is without doubt one of the most sought-after and fought-over drugs in existence. Approximately 1.1 million kilograms of cocaine were produced (using the leaves of the coca plant) in 2009, while it was used by an estimated 17 million people. Much of the vast quantities in circulation are believed to have been traded by Joaquín Guzmán Loera, known to authorities as the biggest cocaine dealer on the planet and the FBI’s and Interpol’s most wanted man. Using trade routes from Colombia and Mexico to the United States, his Sinaloa cartel is responsible for much of the world’s cocaine sales, and the man they call ”El Chapo” (“Shorty”) is himself listed by Forbes as being personally worth $1 billion.

1. Cannabis

Cultivated worldwide, cannabis has a market value of $141.80 billion according to 2005′s UN World Drug Report, though as with cocaine, other sources estimate a much higher figure — $410 billion, say Morss Global Finance. According to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, America saw a marked increase in cannabis use between 2002 and 2009. The survey discovered that 16.7 million Americans aged 12 and above had taken the drug at least once in the month before the survey was conducted. However, perhaps more surprising than the numbers pertaining to the widespread use of the weed — thought to be used by 164 million people globally — are the findings of a recent poll conducted by Gallup, which discovered that half of all Americans would be in favor of legalizing marijuana.

[source: www.businesspundit.com]

10. Opium

Opium, the milky fluid extracted from the opium poppy, has been used since ancient times as a powerful narcotic. Islamic societies, for instance, knew of its effectiveness as a painkiller (and doubtless the blissful high it could induce) long before its re-introduction to Western societies around the 16th century. Its popular medicinal use continued well into the 19th century, and it was freely available over the counter. It was sold, for example, dissolved in alcohol in the tincture known as laudanum, which was a favorite among the poor. Famously, the British even fought wars with China over the opium trade, such was the value that was seen in the drug. In the years before Britain’s 1868 Pharmacy Act limited its availability, opium was freely accessible to anyone who wished to buy or sell it. The fact that a significant proportion of the population was dependent on the drug went largely ignored.

9. Cannabis

Cannabis (a.k.a. marijuana in widely adopted slang) — or to give it its older name, hemp — has been used by humanity for its euphoric effects since the dawn of time. In America, for example, it was used enthusiastically for such properties — as well as for its excellent qualities as a strong rope-making fiber — by new European settlers, who found that the plant could grow in abundance in the new soil on which they had landed. In 1619, legislation was passed by the Virginia Assembly stipulating that all farmers were obligated to grow hemp. Early American presidents George Washington and Thomas Jefferson even grew the weed in their own backyards. The first laws concerning cannabis distribution were not passed until 1906, and sentences for possession of the drug were not handed out before the 1940s — after it had become enmeshed in the public consciousness with fears about Mexican immigration. Before then, the drug was widely available from catalogues and pharmacies: at the turn of the 20th century $2.40 would have bought you an ounce of resin.

8. Benzedrine (Amphetamine)

Benzedrine, in the form of inhalers and later tablets, was readily available over the counter until the 1950s. Marketed under this brand name by Smith, Kline & French (the company that was to become part of GlaxoSmithKline), the drug was initially used as a bronchodilator. However, people who needed help to breathe soon discovered that the innocuous inhaler had a potent stimulant effect. By 1949, many stories had been reported of the drug being used for recreational purposes, as well as as an appetite suppressant. A decade later, “bennies” (as they came to be known) were reclassified as a controlled substance. Benzedrine was then replaced by non-prescription inhalers containing propylhexedrine, which was sold as Benzedrex.

7. Methamphetamine (Sudafed)

Methamphetamine — or to give it its street names, crystal meth, ice or glass — is a particularly strong form of amphetamine. It can create intense feelings of alertness, euphoria and self-esteem when taken in large enough doses. It is also highly addictive, can quickly lead to anxiety and paranoia, and is associated with a range of serious public health issues. Methamphetamine can be produced in home laboratories using pseudoephedrine or ephedrine, which interestingly used to be active ingredients in over-the-counter medicines like Sudafed. Over the last two decades, more and more restrictions have been placed on products that contain the aforementioned chemicals (Sudafed no longer contains the ingredient, for example) and today buyers need identification to purchase them.

6. Amyl Nitrate (Poppers)

Amyl nitrate, popularly known as “poppers” (because of the popping sound originally made by crushing the glass receptacle that held the liquid), used to be available for legal purchase in the United States. From 1960 to 1969 it could be obtained without a prescription. By the end of the 1980s, after a rise in casual use was observed, it was deemed too dangerous and was banned. That said, until very recently it was still widely available in continental European countries such as France, where the dizziness and “rush” associated with it were sought after. In the UK, poppers can still be bought in stores, usually in drug paraphernalia “head shops.” Online suppliers having circumvented the 1968 ban on their sale for human consumption by marketing them as room deodorizers.

5. Codeine

The pain-relieving drug codeine is a derivative of opium that was first isolated in 1832 by French chemist Pierre Robiquet. While codeine can be obtained directly from the opium poppy, it is more commonly extracted and synthesized from morphine. Apparently favorites of late Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain, cough syrups and cold remedies containing codeine were commonly available without prescription until relatively recently in the United States. Medicines containing the ingredient can still be found in pharmacies around the world.

4. Mephedrone

Mephedrone, also known as meph, drone and MCAT, made headlines in Britain in 2010 when there were widespread reports of a craze for the drug  sweeping the nation. Producing a similar effect to MDMA (ecstasy), amphetamines (speed) and cocaine, the drug is believed to have been be manufactured in China and is chemically similar to the East African plant khat, which is also taken for the high it induces. The drug was first synthesized in 1929. It was however not widely known about until 2003, when it became easily obtainable over the counter and extremely popular in the UK and other European nations — where it was sold as “plant food” to bypass laws against its sale for human consumption. Nevertheless, in 2010 the EU ruled it illegal and America has followed suit as of October 2011.

3. Cocaine

The coca leaf has been used by people indigenous to South America for thousands of years, although the isolation of cocaine itself, by the German chemist Friedrich Gaedcke, was not achieved until 1855. It will probably come as no surprise by now that the drug widely known as coke used to be freely available to buy over the counter in Europe and the United States. Anesthetic toothache powders and congestion relief medicines all contained cocaine at one time. These products (as well as Coca-Cola, which really did use cocaine as an ingredient when it was first produced, and later coca leaves until 1906) could be easily procured at the local pharmacy. Drug companies like Parke-Davis (a subsidiary of Pfizer) and Merck sold it in forms ranging from cigarettes to powders to a mixture for injecting! It was only later — in 1914 in the US — that the sale and distribution of cocaine was outlawed, its dangers having been entwined with American social and racial moral panics. Today, substances such as lidocaine replicate cocaine’s numbing effects without the general euphoria that comes with it.

2. Quaaludes

The drug commonly known in America as Quaaludes, “ludes,” Mandrax or Sopors was produced using the sedative-hypnotic drug methaqualone. Originally synthesized in India in 1951, it soon made its way to Europe and Japan as an allegedly safe alternative to barbiturates. Having been available over the counter in Germany in the early ’60s, it appeared in America as the sedative known as Quaaludes in 1965, and by 1972 widespread abuse of the drug had become a problem. Ludes were extensively in use among ’70s college students, who took them in order to experience a dreamy high. However, the risk of overdosing was high, particularly if they were washed down with alcohol. By 1973, it was illegal to be in possession of the drug without a prescription in the US, but that didn’t stop unscrupulous doctors from prescribing it. Still, by 1984, methaqualone had been reclassified as a Schedule I drug, effectively outlawing it.

1. Heroin

Amazingly, heroin — the notoriously addictive illegal drug today used by 50 million people on a regular basis — was once far more readily available than it is now. Yes, heroin could be acquired over the counter with consummate ease in the late 19th and early 20th centuries in UK and the USA. Synthesized by German chemist Felix Hoffmann, it was commercially produced by Bayer Pharmaceutical from 1898 onwards for medicinal purposes — including as a cough syrup for children and as a “non-addictive morphine substitute.” Surprisingly, its importation and manufacture was not banned in the United States until as late as 1924. It was only with the passing of the Harrison Narcotics Tax Act in 1914 that heroin’s sale and distribution was controlled in the US. It was widely available without a prescription in the UK until 1926. Alarmingly, Bayer sold the substance as a cure for morphine addiction only for it to be discovered that the body quickly processes it into morphine, actually making it a faster-acting and doubly potent alternative.

$6.9 Billion – Cocaine — 1989

In 1989, the biggest bust in history yielded 20 tons of cocaine, which came out to a street value of about $7 billion, or five “doses” (whatever that means) for each person in the United States. Big time Mexican drug trafficker Rafael Munoz Talavera was about to make it rain on every man, woman and child, had his cohorts not been caught in their warehouse in Sylmar, an upscale residential community near the San Gabriel Mountain foothills in California. Evidence in the trial against warehouse manager Romero McTague (who received life without parole) and the other 6 men arrested in Sylmar (which did not include Munoz), showed that this bust was small potatoes in comparison to the additional 77 tons that had moved through the warehouse in previous months, during which time the DEA was planning their attack. This brought in a whopping $81 million in transportation fees alone, according to the prosecution. Munoz managed to escape jail time for Sylmar, and also remained unscathed for his alleged involvement in importing 200 total tons of cocaine between 1988-89. His reign came to an end in 1998 though, when he was murdered by a rival Mexican drug group and drifted away to his own personal powder bowl in the sky.

$4 Billion – Heroin — 1991

It’s the summer of 1991 in Hayward, California: Grunge is happening, Freddy Mercury is still alive, and no one has a clue that Steely Dan is about to spontaneously reunite. Great time for music; a not-so-great time for the heroin business. Authorities snagged nearly 1,200 pounds of China white heroin from a warehouse in Hayward, making it the largest heroin seizure in U.S. history. The estimated street value of 1,200 pounds of Mr. Brownstone came out to almost $4 billion. At the time, the DEA even said that this collection represented 5% of the world’s total yearly production. To get to it’s place in the sun, the drug traveled all the way from Thailand to Taiwan, stowed away on a ship to the Port of Oakland and hitchhiked to Hayward, only to meet its demise before it had enough time to kill a comedian.

$1 Billion – Cocaine – 1984

Coming in at number three on our list in true Blow fashion, was the 1984 raid of Sr. Pablo Escobar’s now infamous “Tranquilandia,” which was a large-scale laboratory used to process and mass-produce really good cocaine. Stowed away in the Colombian jungle, the Medellin Cartel boss lost an estimated street value of more than $1 billion when the Colombian National Police snatched up 14 tons of cocaine after getting a hot tip from the DEA. The complex, which boasted 19 total laboratories, an independent water source and electrical system, had actual dormitories for the lab workers to blow their noses and sleep off the stimulant. The Cartel also constructed eight private airstrips in the area, specifically for the transportation of their product. Apparently the DEA knows what they’re doing though, and those smarties put tracking devices on ether (which is a major chemical in processing cocaine) tanks purchased by a Medellin Cartel associate, from some chemical plant in New Jersey (shocker). Their fancy devices led them into the Colombian jungles, and the rest is Johnny Depp history.

$600 Million – Cocaine – 2007

Coke smugglers should really strive to do better work, because in 2007, 20 tons of the drug got intercepted yet again, this time from a Panamanian ship named the Gatun. Unlike most of the busts on the list, this one never made it to a warehouse, and was dubbed the largest maritime cocaine bust in U.S. history, thanks to the U.S. Coast Guard. They were just hanging out on a Sunday, patrollin’, and they caught got the Gatun ridin’ real dirty. DEA administrator Karen Tandy said that (duh), traffickers at least try to make an effort to stash their stash in secret compartments or inside other humans, but these guys “simply loaded these bales of cocaine into cargo containers on the top of the deck of this freighter. They were hiding in plain sight on the main deck.” D’oh! And to think they would have raked in nearly $600 million for this trip, had they not been so obvious.

$20 Million – Marijuana – 2010

Finally, in true Weeds fashion, no less (because television and movies make real life more relatable, right?), authorities discovered 30 tons of weed (approximately $20 million) in a 600-yard tunnel under the California-Mexico border in November of last year. The tunnel, which came complete with rail system, lighting and ventilation, would have been more than fit to house several families from New YorkCity’s mole people population. The space connected a warehouse in Tijuana to one in San Diego, which now explains how they sedate the beasts at the San Diego Zoo.  It also explains how San Diego’s economy became so dependent on “international trade.” 30 tons of weed.  That equals at least 5 male elephants, which don’t bring nearly as many repeat customers.  Interestingly enough, two days prior to the bust, California constituents voted against a proposition to legalize the personal use of marijuana. To think they could have donated all that green to charity. Sigh.

According to the website, several weed dispensaries in Los Angeles are selling a new strain of pot called “OG Blue Ivy.” Of course, Beyonce and Jay-Z didn’t sign off on the new strain, but they don’t have a trademark on their daughter’s name and so far the stores haven’t received any sort of legal notice from the couple.

Source: TMZ

I’m sure proud poppa Jay-Z is somewhere pissed. Would you smoke some OG Ivy Blue if given the opportunity? Holla at me on twitter @DonDivaMagazine