Ian Frisch

But in terms of drug exports, for sure, Mexico is way up there, mainly because they have mastered the art of creating fentanyl and exporting it, which creates this sort of feedback loop of supply and demand.

So yeah, number one for sure is Mexico, at least on this side of the globe.

I mean, it...

If the 1990s are any indication of what happened in Colombia, the answer is kind of yes, because if you're too forceful against them, they have their own basically armies that they can call upon to create political violence within their region, or they can go outside of their region and be violent or create political instability.

It's a delicate dance, especially when a cartel has gotten so powerful over the years and over the decades.

It's almost like the kind of power structures of the cartels should have been dealt with four decades ago.

So that playbook wasn't cemented and being used today in places like Mexico.

It's a difficult situation, especially when you're talking about the Mexican government trying to rein in a Mexican cartel.

It's easy for us Americans to just be like, well, you know, let's just squash them like a bug.

But it's not as simple as that, I don't think.

In some respects, I agree the ship has sailed.

And I think that it's because we didn't realize when the time was right that a solution has to be apolitical.

It can't change every four years based on who's in federal office.

And it can't change based on who's mayor of a city or XYZ, whatever problem you're trying to look at here.

How to combat international drug trade

has to be something that is agreed upon at the onset, and then that playbook extends for decades across political administrations.

And as the winds change and priorities change, these problems can grow roots.

And, you know, they went from a sapling to a tree pretty quick.

What's your next project?

What are you working on now?