On 6 June, Dr Annette Idler gave evidence on how ‘narco-states’ may exploit the illicit drugs trade to achieve their political and economic goals to MPs from the Foreign Affairs Committee. 

Dr Idler spoke as part of a panel considering the wider geopolitical context of the illicit drugs trade. Topics included the Taliban’s exploitation of cultivated poppy and opium in Afghanistan and how heroin and methamphetamine supply and reduction are used as a form of leverage by the Taliban. The committee also discussed China’s exports of precursors for the illicit drug fentanyl to Mexico and the US, and considered how the UK can use its diplomatic leadership in the counternarcotics space to respond to global drug trafficking and bring about meaningful change.