The Geopolitics of Trump’s War on Drugs
By
Robert Muggah
Decertifications, terror labels, and episodic strikes risk alienating the partners Washington needs.
RIO DE JANEIRO — Half a century after former U.S. President Richard Nixon launched the war on drugs, global cocaine output and consumption are at record highs. According to the UN’s latest drug report, cocaine production jumped roughly a third in 2023 to over 3,700 tons, with usage rising to an estimated 25 million people. Over the past decade, narcotics supply chains have diversified, and demand has hardly blinked. President Donald Trump’s second term has repackaged the drug war with sharper geopolitical edges. While fentanyl from...
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