Charms a drug smuggler on the way up (7)
I believe the answer is:
amulets
'charms' is the definition.
(amulet is a kind of charm)
'a drug smuggler on the way up' is the wordplay.
'drug smuggler' becomes 'mule' (I've seen this before).
'on' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'the way' becomes 'st' (**).
'up' says the letters should be written in reverse (in down clue: letters go upwards).
'st' back-to-front is 'ts'.
'a'+'mule'+'ts'='AMULETS'
(Other definitions for amulets that I've seen before include "Lucky charms" , "Ornaments worn as charms against evil" .)