| Hans-Günter Meyer-Thompson | International
USA. Securitisation, narcoterrorism and a drug-free America: The US drug strategy takes a hard turn
USA. Securitisation, narcoterrorism and a drug-free America: The US drug strategy takes a hard turn
The Trump Administration’s new National Drug Control Strategy, released last week, marks a sharp ideological and operational departure from the more health-oriented approach that had been promoted in recent years, in particular under the Biden Administration. Framed around the objective of ‘defeat[ing] the scourge of illicit drugs’ and achieving a ‘drug-free life’, the new Strategy revives a deeply problematic ‘war on drugs’ rhetoric – prioritising law enforcement, militarisation and abstinence-based messaging over evidence-based public health interventions. (idpc – International Drug Policy Consortium, UK, 11.05.2026)