When Mexico Tried a Different Approach to Drugs—and Washington Said No
In 1940, a major reform envisioned treating drug addiction with regulated dispensaries, until the U.S. helped put a stop to it.
This article is adapted from AQ’s special report on the 2024 U.S. presidential election and its impact on Latin America On Saturday morning, March 9, 1940, the Mexican Army’s marching band was playing joyful songs. Cameramen and journalists gathered in the courtyard of 33 Calle Sevilla in Mexico City, trying to get a good photograph of the protagonists of the day: the doctors opening the first state-run morphine dispensary for drug addicts in Mexico City. That dispensary, the first of many planned for the entire country, was the spearhead of a broad national program that...
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