Drug War

What "Crackhead" Really Meant in 1980s America

by Donovan X. Ramsey

The memories of politicians and police have been allowed to dominate our understanding of the emergence of crack cocaine in the 1980s. A new book seeks to elevate the voices of urban Black Americans and others who experienced it directly and still live with its effects.

Is Globalization Changing Mexico's Relationship to Death?

by Humberto Beck

Post-revolutionary Mexico embraced cultural commemorations of the dead—Diá de los Muertos—to help conceal the violence of the regime's rise. Now, that "traditional" culture is again being transformed by global cultural appropriation and the escalating violence of global drug trafficking.

Understanding Colombia's Truth Commission Report after 60 Years of Civil Conflict

by Rachel Nolan

Colombia's armed conflict between government forces, leftist rebels, and paramilitary death squads is the world's longest continuous conflict. The nation's massive Truth Commission report undermines decades of official government narrative about the apportionment of blame for atrocities. 

"Rainbow Fentanyl" Just the Latest Halloween Moral Panic

by Joel Best

From razor blades to opioids, the author has researched every Halloween panic since the 1950s and found no evidence of any child being harmed by any of them. Today, politicians are feeding equally ludicrous narratives to keep people scared. 

New Colombian Leadership Means it's Time for the US to End the Disastrous Drug War

by Christy Thornton

The US has taken steps to pull back from the domestic war on drugs. But the violent, repressive and expensive campaign to fund militarized drug interdiction in Latin America has carried on uninterrupted, fueling political violence abroad and fentanyl overdoses at home. 

Another 90's Trend is Back: DARE

by Rebecca Kavanagh

The brainchild of LAPD Chief Darryl Gates, DARE wasn't good at steering kids away from drugs. But it was good at bringing police into schools and encouraging kids to report anyone using drugs to the cops. 

Broken Homes of the Drug War

by David Helps

Rather than a mistake or an isolated instance of excess, a notoriously brutal and destructive LAPD raid on an apartment complex in 1988 should be seen as part of a political attack on the city's Black poor, enabled by cultural stereotypes of families of color. 

Republicans are Reviving the 1980s Crack Panic; People will Die as a Result

Harm reduction policies are evidence-based and proven to reduce the negative impacts of drug abuse, which makes the effort to turn them into a culture war particularly discouraging. 

CIA Director John Deutch at Los Angeles Town Hall in 1996 Denies Agency Sold Cocaine in City

A town hall meeting in Los Angeles grew heated when the CIA director denied allegations published by reporter Gary Webb that the Agency was involved in importing and distributing drugs to South Central Los Angeles. 

How the Cold War Killed Cannabis as We Knew It

When Henry Kissinger sought to assert American control of Caribbean bauxite ore reserves, he set off a political dirty war that poisoned the Jamaican interior and destroyed prominent strains of cannabis in the name of marijuana interdiction. 

A Timeline of US-Colombia Relations Shows Influence of Cold War, War on Drugs

Over the two centuries since Colombia’s independence, the relationship between Washington and Bogota has evolved into a close economic and security partnership. But it has at times been strained by U.S. intervention, Cold War geopolitics, and the war on drugs.

Drug Prohibition and the Political Roots of Cartel Violence in Mexico

by Benjamin T. Smith

Violence is not so much in the DNA of the drug trade as the DNA of drug prohibition. And until both American and Mexican police forces stop treating it like a war, the violence won’t stop.

Lost Cause: 50 Years of the Drug War in Latin America

Latin America has been fundamentally transformed by Richard Nixon's launch of the War on Drugs in 1971. The Post presents a series of articles by Latin American journalists describing the consequences. 

Supreme Court Rejects Sentence Reductions for Minor Crack Offenses

Justices disagreed about what lessons to draw from the history of the 1986 Crime Bill that created the sentencing disparity for crack cocaine offenses. Does the fact that some Black organizations at the time supported the law excuse its racist impact? 

The U.S. War On Drugs Helped Unleash The Violence In Colombia Today

by Kyle Longley

Counternarcotics operations have been a pretext for funding a buildup of the Colombian security forces, allowing a US-friendly rightist government to avoid dealing with the economic and social causes of unrest. 

Cienfuegos Must also Answer for the Apatzingán Massacre

by Laura Castellanos

The former Secretary of National Defense for Mexico has been arrested on charges related to drug trafficking. He must face accountability for overseeing a security regime that perpetrated coordinated violence against journalists and civilians. 

“Entrepreneurial Greed” — A Review Of Crack: Rock Cocaine, Street Capitalism, And The Decade Of Greed

David Farber's book examines the entrepreneurial culture of crack cocaine and how the drug trade meshed with Reagan-era changes in urban political economy.

A History of Inconvenient Allies and Convenient Enemies

by Alexander Aviña

The history of American alliances abroad doesn't make sense as a drug control strategy, but is consistent with a strategy of invoking the war on drugs to punish governments that resist U.S. domination.

What’s More Deadly to Mexicans than the Drug War? Diabetes.

by Alyshia Gálvez

Here’s why that should concern Americans in the wake of the negotiations over the US, Mexico, Canada Trade Agreement.