International criminal networks-some with links to terrorism-both represent an existential threat to democratic governance of already fragile states in West Africa, and are using drugs to buy political power, fray West Africa's traditional social fabric, and create a public health crisis. Drug trafficking represents the most serious challenge to human security in the region since resource conflicts rocked several West African countries in the early 1990s; international aid to the sub-region's "war on drugs" is only in an initial stage, and progress will be have to be measured in decades, not years.