27/6/18: U.S. War on Drugs: The Unwanted Dividends

While the U.S. war in Afghanistan drags closer to marking 17th anniversary, and the U.S. war on drugs in Latin America rages into its fourth decade (the U.S. has spent more than 1 trillion dollars since the mid 1970s combatting narco-mafias in Latin America), global drugs trade is booming.

According to the data from The Economist, global drugs production has hit a new record high and most of this rise is accounted for by, you've guessed it, Afghanistan (for opium) and Latin America (for cocaine):

Source: https://www.economist.com/graphic-detail/2018/06/27/opium-and-cocaine-production-has-reached-record-levels.

For some background on disastrous fallout from the U.S. war on drugs cartels in Latin America, see https://www.theguardian.com/global-development-professionals-network/2014/feb/03/us-war-on-drugs-impact-in-latin-american.

For background on the U.S. policymakers' surprising inability to learn from their own failures: http://trueeconomics.blogspot.com/2018/05/12518-us-war-in-afghanistan-when.html.