Under the security cooperation agreement called the Merida
Initiative, the United States provides military and law
enforcement assistance to the Mexican government in support of
efforts to combat drug cartels and organized crime. The United
States and Mexico jointly developed this agreement in response
to a substantial increase in drug-related criminal activity and
violence on both sides of the border. The United Nations
International Drug Control Programme published this report,
UNIDC: Facing the Challenge in December 1997. It discusses drug
threats, traficcking, reducing demand and production, and
includes UN narcotics conventions. The Narcotics Convention of
1931 (full name Convention for Limiting the Manufacture and
Regulating the Distribution of Narcotic Drugs, and Protocol of
Signature) was signed on July 13, 1931 and entered into force on
July 9, 1933. The Harrison Narcotics Tax Act of 1914 was
approved on December 17, 1914. It involved "a special tax on all
persons who produce, import, manufacture, co