Mexico’s drug war has officially claimed over three hundred thousand lives since it was launched by then president Felipe Calderon in 2006, along with over thirty thousand unidentified bodies and over ninety thousand missing persons. Despite this cascade of death, billions of dollars spent, and the fall of numerous arch-villains from Pablo Escobar to El Chapo, drugs have probably never been as widely available, varied, and as affordable in the United States and beyond, from Manhattan clubs to South African townships.

Last year more than ninety-three thousand Americans died from drug overdoses in the United States. This is a new record and a rise of over 30 percent from 2019, driven by the new prevalence of the powerful synthetic opiate fentanyl along with pandemic-related spurs to drug abuse and the ever-precarious access to health care in America. This begs the question: What was all the carnage unleashed, millions imprisoned, and chaos spread across the world in the name of the war against drugs for?

The drug trade is a major part of the international economy, worth between $426 billion to $652 billion per year. Americans spent nearly $150 billion on drugs in 2016, according to the Rand Corporation. This is a huge industry; its profits flow back into the licit economy through banks, real estate, and other investments.