Quoting Phil Steinmeyer:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Unfortunately, most game ideas that people come up with are either too derivative (i.e. the game's like StarCraft, but better…), lack pizzazz (hey, since that railroad game did so well, how 'bout a bus system game…), or are disqualified on some other grounds, such as poor taste (you wouldn't believe how many people wanted our next game to be Drug Tycoon).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
There you have it. I think most game developers develop for mass market. There are a lot of parents buying the games. How many do you think would buy it if it had legit drug trade in it?
Just a reminder to newcomers. If you read the whole thread carefully before you reopen it, one that is years old may not be worth bothering with.
In this case, the "contraband goods" is simply done by changing the name in an easily edited file. The whole process is described.
I would also point out that "realism in the game" would require that it start without illegal drugs being a big deal. That among a raft of other things that came and went in the last 50 years of the 20th Century - like the USSR.