Policy Forum

Mexico’s Drug War: The Growing Crisis on Our Southern Border

February 19, 2009 12:00 PM to 2:00 PM EST

Auditorium/Wintergarden

Featuring Ted Galen Carpenter, Vice President for Defense and Foreign Policy Studies, Cato Institute; Ethan Nadelmann, Executive Director of the Drug Policy Alliance; Vanda Felbab‐Brown, Foreign Policy Fellow at the Brookings Institution; and Daniel T. Griswold, Director of the Center for Trade Policy Studies, Cato Institute.

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As the new Obama administration surveys possible national security threats confronting the United States, policymakers need to recognize that an especially lethal one is brewing close to home: the increasing drug‐related violence in Mexico. Since January 2007 there have been more than 6,800 drug‐war related deaths in Mexico, and Mexican drug cartels continue to expand their operations in American cities. Washington’s response has been to expand its prohibitionist efforts with the Mérida Initiative, a U.S-Mexico anti‐drug‐trafficking program. Historically, however, prohibitionist policies have had little success in reducing the flow of drugs. Instead, those policies have led to increased turmoil and corruption. Please join us as we explore more effective alternatives for the new administration.

This forum is funded by a grant from the Open Society Institute.

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