The Dope: The Real History of the Mexican Drug Trade
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- $15.99
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- $15.99
Publisher Description
A myth-busting, 100-year history of the Mexican drug trade that reveals how an industry founded by farmers and village healers became dominated by cartels and kingpins.
The Mexican drug trade has inspired prejudiced narratives of a war between north and south, white and brown; between noble cops and vicious kingpins, corrupt politicians and powerful cartels. In this first comprehensive history of the trade, historian Benjamin T. Smith tells the real story of how and why this one-peaceful industry turned violent. He uncovers its origins and explains how this illicit business essentially built modern Mexico, affecting everything from agriculture to medicine to economics—and the country’s all-important relationship with the United States.
Drawing on unprecedented archival research; leaked DEA, Mexican law enforcement, and cartel documents; and dozens of harrowing interviews, Smith tells a thrilling story brimming with vivid characters—from Ignacia “La Nacha” Jasso, “queen pin” of Ciudad Juárez, to Dr. Leopoldo Salazar Viniegra, the crusading physician who argued that marijuana was harmless and tried to decriminalize morphine, to Harry Anslinger, the Machiavellian founder of the American Federal Bureau of Narcotics, who drummed up racist drug panics to increase his budget. Smith also profiles everyday agricultural workers, whose stories reveal both the economic benefits and the human cost of the trade.
The Dope contains many surprising conclusions about drug use and the failure of drug enforcement, all backed by new research and data. Smith explains the complicated dynamics that drive the current drug war violence, probes the U.S.-backed policies that have inflamed the carnage, and explores corruption on both sides of the border. A dark morality tale about the American hunger for intoxication and the necessities of human survival, The Dope is essential for understanding the violence in the drug war and how decades-old myths shape Mexico in the American imagination today.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
The evolution of the Mexican drug trade over the past century is a sordid tale of murder, torture, corruption, and political opportunism fed by America's thirst for narcotics and the poverty of Mexico's drug-producing provinces, according to this doggedly researched history. Smith (The Mexican Press and Civil Society, 1940–1976), a professor of Latin American history at the University of Warwick, documents shifting market trends and the many ways drugs are smuggled into the U.S. (including via drones, GPS-guided submersibles, and "massive catapults"), and details corruption on both sides of the border. Staggering statistics (one estimate suggests that as many as 65,000 Mexicans were killed in "drug-related murders" from 2006 to 2012) are reinforced by harrowing descriptions of assassinations and kidnappings. Smith also depicts atrocities committed by Mexico's drug enforcement agencies, and the complicity of U.S. agents who failed to intervene. Forcefully arguing that the "war on drugs" has been a failure, Smith believes that little in Mexico will change as long as narcotics remain illegal. Though the relentless back-and-forth of cartel violence grows numbing, Smith's depth of knowledge astonishes, and his pointed critiques of U.S. drug policy hit home. This searing history leaves a mark.
Customer Reviews
A must for anyone interested in understanding Mexico!
Excellent historical and contemporary perspective. Encompasses political and criminal elements, and blending of both to eliminate any demarcation.