The return of cocaine

A customs officer displays a cocaine bag seized at Brussels Airport in 2025. | Nicolas Tucat/AFP via Getty Images

The Trump administration has been telling Americans that fentanyl is so widespread, it’s a “weapon of mass destruction.“ But according to the Washington Post’s Mexico City bureau chief Samantha Schmidt, fentanyl isn’t the drug the administration should be paying attention to — it’s cocaine. 

Globally, supply and demand for the drug are surging, according to Schmidt. And that’s happening amid a changed cocaine landscape...