Drug trafficking is the illegal transporting of or transacting in controlled substances. Under federal law, Title 21, Section 841 makes it unlawful for any person to knowingly or intentionally “manufacture, distribute, or dispense, or possess with intent to manufacture, distribute, or dispense, a controlled substance.”
States may also criminalize drug trafficking. For example, California Health and Safety Code, Section 11379 provides that “every person who transports, imports into this state, sells, furnishes, administers, or gives away, or offers to transport, import into this state, sell, furnish, administer, or give away, or attempts to import into this state or transport any controlled substance . . . shall be punished by imprisonment.”
[Last updated in December of 2021 by the Wex Definitions Team]