Leaders | A losing battle

Fentanyl cannot be defeated without new tactics

Suppression works even less well than with other narcotics

First responders carry away a person experiencing a fentanyl overdose
Photograph: Jordan Gale/New York Times/Redux/Eyevine

IT IS OVER 50 years since Richard Nixon initiated America’s war on drugs, yet victory seems further away than ever. In the 12 months to September 2023 more than 105,000 Americans died from overdoses—almost double the number killed in combat in Vietnam, Afghanistan and Iraq. No matter how zealously the government patrols the border and how ferociously it pursues traffickers, the problem only seems to get worse.

This article appeared in the Leaders section of the print edition under the headline “A losing battle”

India’s north-south divide

From the March 2nd 2024 edition

Discover stories from this section and more in the list of contents

Explore the edition

More from Leaders

How to respond to the riots on Britain’s streets

The violence demands robust policing, but it also requires cool heads

Is the big state back in Britain?

The risk is not too much interventionism, but too little audacity



Genomic medicines can cost $3m a dose. How to make them affordable

The treatments are marvels of innovation. Their pricing must be inventive, too

Chinese companies are winning the global south

Their expansion abroad holds important lessons for Western incumbents

The Middle East must step back from the brink

That still means starting with a ceasefire in Gaza