Whether President Bill Clinton's Plan Colombia or President George W. Bush's recently announced Merida Initiative, the production and traffic of illegal drugs has helped shape U.S. foreign policy towards Latin America in dramatic ways over the last 15 years. Please join Dr. Julia Buxton for a discussion of the implications of drugs on U.S. foreign policy, a European perspective on the problem, and where we can go from here. She will discuss the history, the current trends, and share insights from her 2006 book "Political Economy of Narcotics: Production, Consumption and Global Markets." Please RSVP to Sanho Tree at IPS at [email protected] or (202) 787-5266.