Discover the hidden story behind the headlines. The Mexican drug wars have inspired countless articles, TV shows, and movies. From Breaking Bad to Sicario, the escapes of El Chapo and the raids of Trump, this is a story we think we know. But there is a hidden story behind the biggest tale of the twenty-first century. The Dope reveals how an illegal industry that began with farmers, families, and healers ended up being dominated by cartels, bosses, and corruption. Benjamin T Smith tracks an unforgettable cast of characters from the early twentieth century to today, whose actions came to affect Mexico as we know it. There is Enrique Fernández, the borderland smuggler who became Mexico's first great drug lord and one of the first victims of the drug war. Eduardo 'Lalo' Fernández, Mexico's most significant heroin chemist and the first major cocaine importer. Leopoldo Salazar Viniegra, the clever doctor and Marxist who tried (and failed) to decriminalize Mexico's drugs. And Harry Anslinger, the head of the Federal Narcotics Bureau, whose strategies of sensationalism paved the way for U.S. intervention and the extraordinary levels of violence in Mexico today. The Dope is the epic saga of how violence and corruption came to plague modern Mexico, and it's the first book to analyze the political and economic big picture of the Mexican drug wars.