Drawing on declassified documents and painstaking research, this exploration of the economic drug trade of Central and South America fills in historical gaps and provides a new and controversial analysis of a complex and seemingly unsolvable problem. Viewing the problem through the lens of United States policy, the author puts forth the theory that, through the conflation of the Cold War and the war on drugs, the United States helped establish and strengthen the drug trade as the area’s economic base. This authoritative and timely polemic traces the counternarcotics stance of the 1970's through George W. Bush's administration through a wealth of information and unflinching directness, asserting that the drug war will continue with no end in sight.