Oregon, after decriminalizing drugs to the extent that a state can—there were still Federal laws about drug trafficking—has recriminalized them, because decriminalization was a huge mistake [Oregon recriminalizes drugs after state’s ‘huge mistake,’ by Annabella Rosciglione, Washington Examiner, April 2, 2024].

I remember watching an episode of National Geographic’s Drugs, Inc. It was set in Portland [Oregon High (Full Episode) | Drugs, Inc: The Fix and one of the white American addicts was saying that if you want the best stuff, you have to find a Mexican..

You want to have a Mexican that’s, what you call it—they’re the best plugs,  connections, whatever. [12:50]

The reason: Drug enforcement had destroyed the local illegal drug manufacturing industry, partly by restricting access to pseudoephedrine in quantity—but was unable to stop drug smuggling, which means that that the drug traffic is controlled by the Mexican cartels.

Just about every drug investigation in the U.S. has an international connection of some sort. We don’t grow cocaine, after all, and things like crystal meth and fentanyl are made in labs on the other side of the border. Unlike ICE’s investigation of P Diddy, in my experience, all of ICE’s drug investigations had an immediate cross-border connection. But we wouldn’t want to be political now, would we? Enforcing the border could get you in trouble with the administration. Safer to go after sex trafficking cases.