The drug trafficking problem is visualized, not as a horizontal line between producers and consumers, but as a triangle. At the apex of the triangle are governments whose civilian and military intelligence agencies afford de facto protection to drug kingpins beneath them. The first target of an effective drug strategy should be U.S. officials who have connections with corrupt, drug-linked forces in Central America and other parts of the world. Drug policies in the United States should be challenged in terms of national security and humanity and should be directed away from penalizing individuals and toward curbing government and holding government accountable. References and notes