Little importance has been attributed to illegal markets in the economy, perhaps due to the invisibility that results from their methodologies, indicators and sources, but also due to the moral, legal, political and cultural implications born in the framework of the “war on drugs” policy. What is certain is that there exists an important monetary mass coming from illicit markets. The available data indicate that in 1998 Michel Camdessus (Director of the International Monetary Fund - IMF) estimated the amount at between 2% and 5% of the world economy, while Moisés Naim established a volume of 10% for 2004. This means that it doubled in six years, which gives evidence of a significant tendency for growth. If this rhythm of growth has been maintained to date, what would be the contribution of illegal markets to the world economy now? In Latin America it was estimated in 2002 as 6.3% of the GDP (something like 75 billion dollars). In a study that we did under the auspices of the IDRC we found that the regional amount must be over 120 billion dollars, an amount close to the 137 billion of direct foreign investment in the region in 2013 (CEPAL).