With Trump threatening tough tariffs on Mexico, billboards appeared in the Mexico City in keeping with a campaign launched by Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum against the use of fentanyl. AFP
During the Prohibition era (1920-33), when alcohol was banned in the United States, the American Mafia, along with other ethnic gangs like the Irish, Jewish, and Polish, dominated the bootleg industry. Their operations involved alcohol from Canada and other countries. They ran secret bars and gambling dens.
Prohibition was the result of a campaign by the Temperance Movement, which strongly believed, partly due to religious conviction, that alcohol was responsible for many societal problems, including crime, domestic violence, and poverty. Moreover, pro-Prohibition groups argued that a ban would improve public health and moral standards, while it would also end political corruption and promote economic efficiency.
Valid indeed were their campaigns and arguments, but Prohibition led to a rise in criminal gangs and illegal speakeasies or hooch dens.
Prohibition, which began in 1920 with a good intention under President Woodrow Wilson, a political idealist, ended in 1933 during the presidency of Franklin Roosevelt, a pragmatist. The end of Prohibition revived the lawful local liquor industry, enabling the rise of Jack Daniel, Jim Beam, and many other top brands.
Fast forward to 2025: The second term of Donald Trump. Despite facing many criminal cases that raise questions about his moral character, his drive to address the problem of narcotic drugs, especially fentanyl, is a step in the right direction, and it shares some similarities with Prohibition. For instance, both the Wilsonian Prohibition and the Trumpian drug war are concerned about the adverse impact of alcoholism and drug addiction on the economy.
During the 2024 election campaign, Trump’s call for tough border control to crack down on illicit drugs and migration resonated well with his vote bank, a significant segment of whom believe that he is a Godsend to cleanse America and Make America Great Again.
No sooner did he ensconce himself in the seat of presidency than he gave legal effect to his war on drugs, especially fentanyl. He even threatens long-term allies and neighbours Canada and Mexico with additional tariffs unless they tighten border controls to stop the smuggling of fentanyl into the US. Also threatened with fentanyl-related tariffs was China. All three countries have refuted Trump’s charges and laboured to highlight the measures they have been taking to eliminate the illicit fentanyl industry. The charge against China, particularly, inferred a Chinese move to destabilise the US, underscoring the weaponization of narcotics drugs as a geopolitical tool.
Fentanyl is a drug synthesised by Belgian chemist Paul Janssen in 1960 as part of his research into pain relief. It is a synthetic opioid and is used in pain management. But more than its medical use, today the drug is known for its abuse and addiction.
Fifty times more potent than common heroin and 100 times more than morphine, fentanyl has become a major narcotic problem across the world, especially in the United States, a highly lucrative market for narcotics. So much so, a meme that went viral when Trump issued the executive order to fortify border control had this to say: “Mexico should stop exporting drugs for a month…. Americans will be the ones climbing over the wall.”
The wide availability of fentanyl is often attributed to its ease of production. Like the Prohibition-era Mafiosi and criminal gangs, the growing fentanyl demand has given rise to a huge network of narcotics cartels across the world, more specifically Central America.
When compared to heroin production, fentanyl production is much cheaper. Some addicts mix fentanyl with heroin, cocaine, and other drugs, often leading to death. Withdrawal from addiction or rehabilitating a fentanyl addict is a much more difficult task than the rehabilitation of a heroin addict. With millions of Americans, mainly youth, addicted to opioids, the cartels make enormous profits, as each pill fetches between $2 and $5. The economic losses and the impact on the country’s progress, due to the devastating effects of addiction on the youth population, are far greater.
Although efforts to combat drugs like fentanyl, heroin, cocaine, cannabis, and tobacco are commendable, the West’s drug problem, in a karmic sense, is beset with deep-rooted historical causes and geopolitical agendas. Ask the Chinese, they will speak volumes about the massive social-economic loss they suffered due to the introduction of opium by British imperialists. The Chinese called this period the Century of Humiliation” (1839–1949), a period of foreign domination, internal strife, and national weakness.
In the early 19th century, when China showed little interest in buying British products, the British East India Company cultivated opium in the Indian subcontinent and smuggled it into China as part of its plan to turn the trade deficit into a surplus. With demand for opium rising among the unsuspecting Chinese, the country’s economy suffered, leading to instability and social problems such as crimes and the breakdown of families.
China under the Qing dynasty fought two losing wars to keep the British away and save its population. The defeats led to Britain winning more trade concessions and territory, including Kowloon and later Hong Kong.
The opium with which Britain subjugated China has now grown to be a colossal global problem of heroin, a derivative of opium. Many countries, including Sri Lanka, are going nowhere in their drug wars. However, countries like Singapore and Malaysia, with their strict drug policies, including the death penalty, have effectively curbed the problem. The evil the drug dealers commit is crueller than murder. They commit slow genocide, preying on the youth, tomorrow’s leaders.
Any discussion on heroin is incomplete without a mention of Afghanistan. The Taliban in the 1990s banned opium cultivation in territories they controlled. But during the 20-year US occupation, opium cultivation flourished in Afghanistan. Two reasons were widely attributed to the US occupation force’s tolerance of heroin production. The first—just as the British did to China—was aimed at destabilising Russia, a big market for Afghan heroin. The other was to prevent American drug users from accessing much more harmful fentanyl.
If President Trump is really serious about winning the fentanyl war, he cannot do it alone with brash tariffs. A selfish and isolationist, Trump shows little or no interest in a concerted global effort to eradicate the drug menace. The suspension of USAID projects and minimising cooperation with the United Nations agencies have severely affected programmes designed to combat the global drug problem.
Also, the United States should come clean about its alleged CIA-backed drug operations to fund regime change operations in Central America and other places.
PS: Sri Lanka needs to redouble its efforts to tighten maritime border control and toughen its laws to prevent fentanyl from entering the country and adding to the problem of heroin and methamphetamine, also known as Ice. If Trump succeeds in America, the fentanyl cartels will look for other markets. Sri Lanka should not be one.
This post was originally published on here
