This article about La Familia, A Mexican syndicate and how it operates.

This editorial argues that "legalization is the least bad solution" to temper the effects of the drug trade on producer and consumer countries.

We should focus instead on reducing harm to users and on tackling organized crime, authors Fernando Henrique Cardoso, Cesar Gaviria, and Ernesto Zedillo Ponce de León argue.

Jesus Rios and July Ray find that more Mexicans perceive gangs and drug trafficking in their neighborhoods.

At its third meeting, in Rio de Janeiro, a report was made public by the Latin American Commission on Drugs and Democracy, exposing the impressions reached after nearly a year of research and  debates. In this report, the commission evaluates the impact of policies on the "war on drugs" and develops recommendations for more efficient, secure, and humane strategies.

This article goes in depth into the rising Culiacán drug scene.

This document provides an overview of current and past drug policies implemented by Mexican government. It also analyzes the trends in the increased reliance on the Mexican armed forces in counter-drug activities and the role that the U.S. government has played in shaping Mexico's counter-drug efforts.

Maureen Meyer, with contributions from Coletta Youngers and Dave Bewley-Taylor

A Testimony Before the Committee on Foreign Affairs House of Representatives on the high flow of illicit drugs into the United States.

The GAO's recent report discusses the illicit drug threat posed by Mexican drug production and trafficking to the United States since 2000 and U.S. agencies' programs to support Mexico's counternarcotics efforts since fiscal year 2000.

The UN Office on Drugs and Crime has released its assessment of Afghanistan's opium cultivation (PDF).

Transcript of an interview by Radio Free Europe with Mark Norton, first secretary for counternarcotics at the British Embassy in Afghanistan, focussing on the coming poppy-eradication campaign in southern Helmand Province—targeting roughly one-tenth of the opium-poppy crops that provide about half of the heroin that reaches Europe. NATO forces will support the effort, which includes about 600 Afghan and auxiliary police, along with a force assembled by Helmand Governor Assadullah Wafa.

This report the Institute for War and Peace Reporting argues that corruption, lack of security, and poor coordination will combine to torpedo the counter-narcotics effort in Afghanistan.

A RAND Corporation team assesses the effectiveness of recent U.S. drug policies.

In his new book, Weak Links: Fragile States, Global Threats, and International Security, Stewart Patrick argues that most fragile states are not a threat to the United States.

Armand Peschard-Sverdrup, senior associate at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, and Jorge Chabat, professor at Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas (CIDE) in Mexico City, debate what an ideal security cooperation agreement would look like between the United States and Mexico.

Shannon K. O'Neil examines pledges by Mexico's presidential candidates to shift drug war priorities from arresting traffickers to reducing horrific violence.

Benn Steil's Forbes op-ed takes a critical look at the economics behind the Obama Administration's free-contraception insurance mandate.

Joel D. Hirst says the Obama administration must move with urgency to secure the extradition of Walid Makled García "el Turco" from Colombia to the United States.

Joel D. Hirst says the decision by Colombia to send drug kingpin Walid Makled to Venezuala and not the United States is a mistake, but one that can be corrected.

Joel D. Hirst discusses recent arrest of Venezuelan drug lord Walid Makled, and the implications of his extradition from Columbia to the United States.