End of preview - This article contains approximately 1041 words.
Subscribers: Log in now to read the full article
Not a Subscriber?
Choose from one of the following options
Back
Latin American illicit drug business
Introduction
Latin American drug cartels have shown themselves to be powerful, resilient, and flexible organisations which for decades have been major players supplying the US and international markets with illicit drugs such as cocaine and heroin. They have adapted as needed to changing patterns of drug consumption and law enforcement. The ‘war against drugs’ proclaimed in 1971 by US President Richard Nixon (1969-1974), which promised hard line measures to eradicate production, distribution, and consumption of illicit substances, is now over half a century old and has been deemed by many to have been an abject failure, reducing neither drug consumption nor cartel violence. Arguably, no new, comprehensive, and credible strategy has yet emerged to fill the vacuum. As a result, governments today lack a clear road map to contain the spread of addiction and cartel violence. On a country-by-country basis some policies focusing on public health and harm reduction have made modest progress, but there has also been regression.
- Introduction
- The fentanyl epidemic
- Fentanyl and the US-China-Mexico triangle
- The growth of fentanyl money laundering
- Problem: Weak Mexico-US cooperation
- Fentanyl and post-truth politics
- Bomb Mexico?
- Biden’s dilemma
- Colombia hopes for cocaine anti-narcotics win
- Watch the pharmacists
- Expect slow change in the drug business