Elizabeth Kempshall, head of the Drug Enforcement Administration in Arizona, discusses her office's cooperation with Mexican law enforcement to fight drug trafficking.

John M. Walsh of the Washington Office on Latin America says the failure of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez’s major reform proposals at the polls was a surprise, and represents a “heavy defeat.”

New studies show the war on drugs is being lost in Afghanistan, and some policy experts think licensing the country for morphine production would help.

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

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.

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 United States and Mexico are negotiating a significant aid package to help Mexico fight its drug war. But a “Plan Mexico” faces many hurdles.

Mexican President Felipe Calderon has surprised many with his bold crackdown on drug violence and his ability to push reforms through the legislature.  

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.

With drug-related violence on the rise in Mexico, U.S. and Mexican officials are increasingly clashing over how to wage the country’s intensifying war on drugs.

A rise in drug use in Iran is one overlooked consequence of the surge in opium production in the Taliban-run provinces of southern Afghanistan.

Under President Alvaro Uribe's "democratic security" initiative, data suggests security in Colombia has improved significantly. But the country remains the world's biggest producer of cocaine, the rebel group FARC controls many rural areas, and paramilitaries show signs of regrouping.

The Shanghai Cooperation Organization, celebrating its five-year anniversary summit, has blossomed into a full-fledged security alliance, as well as a foil to U.S. influence in Central Asia.

Has the once ballyhooed U.S. "war on drugs" been put on the policy backburner? Many experts think it has, and also that this might be a good thing.