> produced in small labs, often trained by Chinese associates, and then shipped to the USA.

Same thing, more steps, more plausible deniability. What's the diff?

Well for one, if China stops supplying Mexico, and the USA stops all illicit deliveries of anything from China…

That won’t solve our problem because Mexico will buy chemical precursors from Brazil, India, or any of the large chemical companies in Mexico. The labs are already there (invested capital) and the chemicals (marginal costs) aren’t specialized.

So the “solution” has changed if you want prohibition. I mean, we’ve tried prohibition for 70+ years now. It doesn’t work. But we can keep trying!

> So the “solution” has changed if you want prohibition. I mean, we’ve tried prohibition for 70+ years now. It doesn’t work. But we can keep trying!

I'm not sure that our dabbling with legalization is a panacea either. Maybe we should aggressively try both at the same time. Extremely harsh punishment for dealers, decriminalization for users, well funded treatment for anybody who wants it.

I think the only solution is for the US to conquer the other half of Mexico that it didn't annex in the 19th century. Feasibility: uncertain.