The return of cocaine |
The Trump administration has been telling Americans that fentanyl is so widespread, it’s a “weapon of mass destruction.“ But according to the Washington Post’s Mexico City bureau chief Samantha Schmidt, fentanyl isn’t the drug the administration should be paying attention to — it’s cocaine.
Globally, supply and demand for the drug are surging, according to Schmidt. And that’s happening amid a changed cocaine landscape, one that’s evolved from the kingpin-run trade of the ’80s. The drug might conjure images of Pablo Escobar and Al Pacino’s Scarface, but today’s reality is less the big bad coke boss and more like a proliferation of smaller outfits trafficking in cocaine.
As Schmidt told Today, Explained cohost Jonquilyn Hill, “It is a much more globalized business than before, and it works in an entirely new way that makes it much more difficult to combat.”
Below is an excerpt of their conversation, edited for length and clarity. There’s much more in the full episode, so listen to Today, Explained wherever you get podcasts, including