Beyond Supply and Demand: Obama’s Drug Wars in Latin America

The United States does not so much wage war on drugs as wage war with drugs. Throughout the 20th century, the U.S. government has considered certain drugs, including most recently flu vaccines, strategic materials and has subsidized their mass-production and stockpiling in the interests of national security.9 Drugs, among other things, can numb a soldier’s pain, stimulate and ease labor, and vaccinate against disease, giving them special strategic value. Obama’s continuation of the U.S. embargo against Cuba, including policies that limit the availability of critical medicines, shows how drugs’ medicinal value has also been deployed to exert coercive diplomatic leverage.10 A U.S. company selling drugs to Cuba would in this context be committing a crime, revealing the limits of drug war rhetoric focused on an underworld of “illicit” drug profiteering.

An absolutely excellent article.

(via Instapaper)