U.S. Moral Panics, Mexican Politics, and the Borderlands Origins of the War on Drugs 1950-1962

Abstract

During the 1950s Californian civil society advocates and politicians developed a moral panic over youth narcotic use. One of the key elements of this moral panic was the assertion that most drugs came over the border and that the only solution to this problem was blackmailing Mexico through temporary closure of the border. The idea not only became a tenet of later drug policy, but also, in conjunction with pressure from Mexico’s own moral reformers, forced regional politicians in Mexico to enact periodic clean up campaigns.