Why Drug Traffickers Love Free Trade

Laredo, Texas, the busiest land port between the United States and Mexico, offers an intimate view of the marriage between illegal narcotics and free trade. Along the Rio Grande, U.S. law enforcement officials refer to the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) as the “North American Free Trafficking Agreement.” But in Washington, amid finger-pointing about who’s soft on drugs, no one on either side of the aisle wants to admit that nothing favors drug traffickers more t...