Alternatives to the War on Drugs

Alternatives to the War on Drugs

Running since 1995, the Drugs & Democracy project of TNI, Acción Andina via CEDIB (Bolivian Documentation and Information Centre) and the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA) is co-ordinated from the Amsterdam office by TNI Associate Fellow Martin Jelsma and Tom Blickman. Key questions being addressed are: How do repressive approaches to combatting the illegal drugs trade impact on human and civil rights, efforts at democratization and demilitarisation? What are the implications of increasing military, police and state bureaucracies involvement in the illicit drugs business and subsequent institutionalisation of criminalised politics and economics?

Democracies under Fire. Phase 1

The first phase of the project was concluded in 1998. Focused on the Americas, it involved 23 researchers (investigative journalists, lawyers and political scientists) covering 16 countries on the continent. Their results were published in May as Democracias bajo fuego: Drogas y poder en América Latina (Democracies Under Fire: Drugs and Power in Latin America), as a joint publication of TNI, Acción Andina and Ediciones de Brecha in Montevideo (Uruguay).
The 370-page study approaches the problem from two sides: on the one hand, the destabilizing effect of an illicit economy; and on the other, the re-militarization caused by the escalation of the drug war. The study concludes that far from producing solutions in Latin America, current repressive drug policies have not only increased illegal drug production and trafficking, but have incurred serious collateral damage. The latter includes damage to rural livelihoods, the environment and public health. Furthermore, the implementation of existing policy and the consequent escalation of the war on drugs have proved major impediments to efforts at demilitarisation and democratization in the region, notably in Colombia.

Book launches

Democracias bajo fuego was first launched at a seminar on Alternative Development and the UNGASS on Drugs held in May 29 in Santafé de Bogotá (Colombia). The seminar was hosted by PLANTE - the government programme for drug crop substitution - and the Observatorio para la Paz. It was attended by governmental officials and experts from several Latin American countries, as well as representatives of international agencies. Tom Blickman of TNI presented a of the UN Drug Control Programme's Strategy for Coca and Opium Poppy Elimination (SCOPE), while other members of the Drugs & Democracy team, Ricardo Vargas and Ricardo Soberón, presented the situations in Colombia and Peru. Samuel Blixen spoke about Democracias bajo fuego. In a subsequent review, the leading Colombian newspaper, El Tiempo, described the book as one of the most interesting and complete recent studies into drugs and power in Latin America.
The UN General Assembly Special Session (UNGASS) to Counter the World Drug Problem Together, scheduled for early June 1998 in New York, offered an ideal opportunity to launch the book internationally. Democracias bajo fuego was presented at a workshop hosted by TNI in the United Nations building before an audience of experts and officials from country delegations.
A third launch took place in Washington DC a few days later during a conference hosted by TNI and partners from the USA and Latin America. The conference was held at the George Washington University and well-attended by US policy makers, academics and drug policy reformers.
A fourth presentation took place in Bolivia in December before an audience of military cadres at the Escuela de Comando y Estado Mayor (ESEM) in Cochabamba, Bolivia. Some 120 military school cadres and students attended, along with 20 NGO representatives, turning the event into the first direct debate (on this issue) between civil society and the military in Bolivia. Enthused by the challenge this presented, the commander of the academy is planning to use the Drugs & Democracy project's research as the basis for the 1999 course at all three military schools in Cochabamba.

Meanwhile, Abya Yala, a publisher in Quito (Ecuador), bundled two succesful booklets of 1997, "Democracy, Human Rights and Militarism in the War on Drugs in Latin America and "Crime in Uniform: Corruption and Impunity in Latin America, into a book published in 1998 as Democracias, poder y derechos humanos en América Latina.

Research and advocacy. A Just and Effective Policy on Drugs

The work of the Drugs & Democracy Team in 1998 was geared towards publicising the conclusions of their first phase of research, and promoting a just and effective policy on drugs. The latter was encapsulated in the Manifesto for a Just and Effective Policy on Drugs, endorsed by 86 organisations from 20 countries, and published under the auspices of the International Coalition of NGOs (ICN) Working for Just and Effective Drugs Policy.
The TNI/Acción Andina team, in alliance with ICN, is arguing for a critical review of the impact of existing drug eradication programmes and serious consideration of the alternative approaches being proposed. Two research projects, outlined below, were started in 1998 which further strengthen their case.

Fumigation and Air-Bridge Interdiction in the Andean Region

There are serious indications that aerial fumigations are having negative environmental, socio-economic and health and safety consequences; that forced eradication results in the colonisation and cultivation of new areas, particularly within the Amazon rain forests; and that strategies such as air-bridge interdictions simply result in the opening up of new trafficking routes.
In the second half of 1998, TNI and Acción Andina began a solid scientific investigation into the social and environmental impact of aerial chemical fumigation of illicit drugs crops in Latin America. A detailed report on the impact of fumigations in Colombia, Mexico, Guatemala and Venezuela will be published in Spanish in mid-1999, along with an English-language briefing paper summarizing the main conclusions and policy recommendations.
A second area of ongoing research concerns the claimed success of air-bridge interdictions between Colombia and Bolivia and Peru. Preliminary results indicate that such claims are contradicted by the changed patterns of the drug industry and increased production in Colombia. A report is due to be published in early 1999.

United Nations General Assembly Special Session on the World Drug Problem

The United Nations General Assembly Special Session on the World Drug Problem (UNGASS, held from 8 to 10 June in New York, provided a key focus for the efforts to persuade the international community to review existing drug policies.
On the basis of research by the Drugs & Democracy Team, the UN Drug Control Programme's ill-conceived Strategy for Coca and Opium Poppy Elimination (SCOPE) to eradicate illicit cultivation of both crops by 2008 was harshly criticised in specialist media features, targeted briefings, lobby materials, and numerous international media interviews (in Latin America, the USA and Europe), disseminated prior to and during the UNGASS.
TNI prepared a briefing paper, called Caught in the Crossfire - Developing Countries, the UNDCP and the War on Drugs, published jointly with the Catholic Institute of International Relations (CIIR), London. The paper was widely distributed among press, politicians, policy makers, NGOs etc. in the month prior to UNGASS. It was also translated into Spanish for publication in the specialist magazine Revista Acción Andina aimed at a Latin American audience.
Facilitating a voice for the victims

Thanks to funds secured by TNI, representatives from the ICN coalition were able to go to New York to voice their dissent in relation to current world drug policies. During the NGO fora, farmers sat next to consumers, human rights activists from the South next to drug policy reformers from the North, united in the belief that the war on drugs is a complete failure with many innocent victims caught in its wake, and that the world urgently needs alternatives to the current madness.
Civil society participation in the events taking place in the UN Building was severely restricted, however. Anticipating strong critique from NGOs, the United Nations Drug Control Programme (UNDCP) had insisted that all NGO activities should take place outside the UN building. After prolonged negotiations, only TNI and its partners (Acción Andina, WOLA and Consejo Andino) were permitted to hold a workshop in the UN itself. Entitled the Drug War in the Andes: Alternative Development, Crop Eradication and Interdiction, it was a rare moment during UNGASS where a direct discussion between NGO representatives and official government delegates took place.
Members of the Drugs & Democracy team spoke on US drug policy in the Andes (Coletta Youngers of the Washington Office on Latin America); UNDCP s ten year strategy to eliminate coca and opium poppy (Martin Jelsma of TNI); the impact of aerial fumigation in Colombia (Ricardo Vargas of CINEP and Omayra Morales, elected leader of the Andean Council of Coca Producers); the failure of air-bridge interdiction in the Andes (Theo Roncken of CEDIB) and the relative successes of alternative development in Peru (Hugo Cabieses, CEPES, Peru). A lively discussion ensued, particularly focused on the situation in Colombia.
Thanks to the lobby activities of TNI and other members of ENCOD, NGOs also succeeded in gaining access to the Committee of the Whole, where official delegates, UN and other international agencies, and guests assembled. Omayra Morales addressed the conference on behalf of the coca producers of the Andean region alongside Marsha Burnett, who spoke on behalf of addicts and consumer organisations. Burnett epitomised the injustice of a system which targets the victims of drugs. An African-American woman, Burnett is an HIV sufferer and a former heroine addict, whose children were officially removed from her subsequent to her rehabilitation. As two women representing the victims on either far end of the drug chain, they made a visible impact on delegates who listened in absolute silence and, contrary to normal practice, even applauded as the women joined hands symbolically at the end of their presentation. It was the first time the voices of the victims, whose problems the delegates purport to be concerned to solve, have ever been heard in such an international policy-making forum.

Press coverage

There was substantial media coverage throughout the UNGASS week, including a hour-long talk show on Pacifica Radio broadcast across the USA, a UN radio programme featuring both Morales and Burnett, interviews with BBC radio, EFE, AFP and many others; two broadcasts a day by the Spanish service of Radio Netherlands World Service and an ICN press conference for the combined Spanish-speaking press.
Despite all these efforts prior to and during the UNGASS, the Drugs Summit ultimately proved a lost opportunity. No critical evaluation of current drug policies took place. A global strategy was adopted to reduce illicit drug supply and demand by 2008 - the SCOPE plan in essence, if not in name. As a New York Times editorial put it, the UNGASS was devoted to recycling unrealistic pledges.

Some impact

Drug policy reform advocates can take some comfort, however, in the softer language used by UNDCP Executive Director, Pino Arlacchi, architect of the SCOPE plan. The rigorous critiques of SCOPE, the vocal alternative lobby built prior to UNGASS, and the critical press received during the Special Assembly must have exerted some influence, prompting him to soften his earlier war talk. Three months prior to the UNGASS, while defending SCOPE, he was cited as saying The war on drugs has not been fought and lost; it was never started. In New York, he chose his words more carefully, saying ...the drug problem is more like a disease. And together, we have to cure the patient, hit at the traffickers and criminal groups, and provide an alternate way of life to those engaged in illicit cultivation.

US foreign policy on drugs

In the aftermath of UNGASS, TNI co-organised, with Acción Andina, the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA) and the Institute for Policy Studies (IPS), a conference at the George Washington University in Washington DC on June 11. Entitled The War on Drugs: Addicted to Failure, this conference was concerned with US foreign policy in relation to drugs. Drugs & Democracy team members, Frank Smyth and Peter Zirnite, spoke on the role of intelligence and law enforcement agencies in the war on drugs, while other speakers covered much the same ground as at the UN in New York. Around 150 US policy-makers, academics, journalists and drug policy reformers attended the conference.

Drugs and Peace. Phase 2

Peace in Colombia

The fumigation project has gained momentum and increased significance in light of recent political developments in Colombia. A large area in the South (equivalent to the size of Switzerland) was demilitarized in November 1998 as part of an agreement between President Pastrana and Manuel Marulanda, leader of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). Southern Colombia is an area where massive coca cultivation takes place and which is the target for intense aerial fumigations. Ongoing fumigations are one of the reasons the peace talks have stalled.
The challenge will be to define alternative Harm Reduction policies that would reduce the fuelling effect of the drugs factor on the armed conflict, and hence improve conditions for a consolidation of the peace process. A Harm Reduction conflict prevention scenario will also be developed to try to diffuse tensions in the Bolivian Chapare region, where illicit cocacultivation is concentrated and where many fear the outburst of an armed conflict. This will be a major focus of the project in 1999.

Coalition-building

TNI has been actively involved in coalition-building for a just and effective drugs policy during the course of 1998. It has continued to play a leading role in the European NGO Council on Drugs and Development (ENCOD), and in strengthening the International Coalition of NGOs (ICN) Working for Just and Effective Drugs Policy. The ICN was formed at the end of 1997 at a meeting bringing together organisations from 15 countries united in a common concern for the adverse impact of current drug control policies and the urgent need to revise them. It is the first North-South coalition on international drug policy, and is comprised of organisations of small producers, drug consumers, associations of addicts, development, human rights, and public health NGOs, as well as policy reformers.
TNI has put its electronic infrastructure at the disposal of ENCOD and the ICN. TNI's web site hosts ENCOD s home page and ICN's mailing list. The bilingual Spanish-English site has become an important source of information and analysis on drugs-related issues. The site clocked up 3000 hits during 1998.