Mexico's Narco-insurgency and U.S. Counterdrug Policy

On June 30, 2008, President George W. Bush signed into law the Merida Initiative, a 3-year, $1.4 billion counterdrug assistance program for Mexico and Central America. The Merida Initiative is representative of the supply-side approach to the narcotics trade that has long characterized U.S. drug control policy. Unfortunately, this approach to the drug trade is unlikely to achieve the desired results in Mexico. For the Merida Initiative to be fully successful, the United States must therefore forge a more holistic, better-integrated approach to the drug trade. Implementing such a strategy will not be easy, but it will be central to improving U.S. counternarcotics policy and ensuring that the Merida Initiative is more than a mere palliative for the problems associated with the Mexican drug trade.