In contrast, there is no addiction-based international demand for terrorism. Profit drives the drug trade. Terrorists do need money to operate, but for the terrorist, funding generally is a means to an end and not an end in itself. Political ideology, radical religious viewpoints, alienation, or revenge, and not a desire for financial profit, usually drive terrorist activity. A central characteristic often used to distinguish terrorism from profit-motivated common crime is the willingness of terrorists to go after often random innocent targets in the claimed pursuit of some greater cause.
Terrorists increasingly rely on drug money for funding.
Terrorists and criminals alike need a steady cash flow to operate. In the case of terrorists, where state sources of funding may be diminishing, drug trafficking is an attractive funding option. Increasingly, terrorist organizations are looking to criminal activity and specifically the drug trade as a source of funding. The FARC in Colombia is but one of many cases in point. Once engaged in drug trafficking activity, organizations and nations find it hard to stop.