The War on Drugs in Mexico

There’s a side to the war on drugs that most Americans never see. Although drug use is often discussed as a local or a national issue, it’s also an international one. The American taste for heroin, marijuana, and cocaine creates a black market that stretches around the globe.

Although they aren’t always in the American public eye, drug interdiction programs that go after international trafficking can promise much greater payoffs than street-level enforcement at home. Stop the drugs before they ever reach the United States, and there will be fewer drug dealers on American streets. So the thinking goes.

Yet this strategy comes at a price. The demands of American drug interdiction can strain the law enforcement and military resources of countries that aren’t always willing or eager to support our drugs-and-prohibition habit. Standing up to the United States isn’t easy, either, and even America’s friends can’t necessarily persuade it to change policies.

In the international war on drugs, Mexico has been particularly hard-hit. A good deal of drug trafficking proceeds through Mexico, and the United States has frequently pressured its southern neighbor to adopt more stringent interdiction policies. Often, says lead essayist Jorge Castañeda, these policies are politically unpopular, expensive, and ineffective. They strain U.S.-Mexican relations while failing to deliver on their promises. Worse, they sow corruption and violence in Mexico.

To discuss Castañeda’s provocative thesis, we’ve invited a panel of three experts on international affairs: Stephanie Hanson of the Council on Foreign Relations, Jim Roberts of the Heritage Foundation, and Ted Galen Carpenter of the Cato Institute.

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