The United States and the promulgation and suspension in Mexico of the 1940 Regulation of Drug Addiction
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.24201/fi.v61i3.2775Keywords:
drugs policy, drug addiction regulations, cross-governmental relationships, Mexico-United States, Leopoldo Salazar ViniegraAbstract
This article analyzes the process behind the enactment and subsequent suspension in Mexico of the Federal Regulation on Drug Addiction 1940, which permitted among other things the implementation of an addiction substitution program that was radical for its time. Although this Regulation was signed by President Lázaro Cárdenas in January, by June 1940 it was suspended indefinitely due to pressure from U.S. government agencies.
The paper has two goals. On the one hand, to examine the role played by different actors and institutions of the U.S. government in the suspension of this Regulation. On the other, to analyze the reaction of both the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (SRE) and the Department of Public Health (DSP) to defend it.
Drawing on primary sources gathered in Mexico and in the U.S., the details of the cross-governmental relationship between Mexican and U.S. officials between April 1938 and July 1940, the month in which the Regulation was suspended.
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