In memoriam: Adrian Cowell

31 October 2011

Martin Jelsma

Tom Blickman

Adrian Cowell, a groundbreaking documentary film maker and good friend, died early October in London.

The last time he was with us at TNI in Amsterdam was in 2009 for a meeting with representatives from opium growing regions in northern Burma, where we also showed his TV documentary 'The Heroin Wars'. For many of those present from the ethnic groups from the Shan and Kachin states it was the first time to see the remarkable footage spanning three decades and explaining like no other movie ever did the history of opium and conflict in Burma. At the same time Adrian’s documentary is unparalleled in explaining the background of the heroin epidemic and the stupidity and futility of the war on drugs in the region.

In December 2003 Adrian was one of the key-note speakers at an international conference TNI organized jointly with the Burma Centre Netherlands to discuss the dilemmas for drug policy responses in Burma. His presentation on ‘Opium Anarchy in the Shan State of Burma’ became the first chapter of our book ‘Trouble in the Triangle, Opium and Conflict in Burma’. During the event we showed his famous film ‘The Opium Warlords’. As he usually did, he left the room when the documentary was shown still feeling uncomfortable watching how people reacted to his work. Adrian was a remarkable person, far too modest about his own work. His documentaries are without any doubt the best ever made and can make anyone truly understand and feel the reality of the complex dynamics of drugs and conflict, in a way papers and books never can.

Fortunately his work has not died with Adrian and we will continue using his documentaries, but we’ll dearly miss the courageous and kind man who made them.

Martin Jelsma & Tom Kramer TNI Drugs & Democracy programme

Watch trailers of the three-part documentary The Heroin Wars

The Heroin Wars, Pt. 1 - The Opium Convoys (Bullfrog Films clip)

The Heroin Wars, Pt. 2 - Smack City (Bullfrog Films)

The Heroin Wars, Pt. 3 - The Kings of Opium (Bullfrog Films clip)

For more info about Adrian’s remarkable life and work: Passage of a Trailblazer (obituary by Bertil Lindner in Asia Times Online)

About the authors

Martin Jelsma

Martin Jelsma is a political scientist who has specialised in Latin America and international drugs policy. In 2005, he received the Alfred R. Lindesmith Award for Achievement in the Field of Scholarship, which stated that Jelsma "is increasingly recognized as one of, if not the, outstanding strategists in terms of how international institutions deal with drugs and drug policy."

In 1995 he initiated and has since co-oordinated TNI's Drugs & Democracy Programme which focuses on drugs and conflict studies with a focus on the Andean/Amazon region, Burma/Myanmar and Afghanistan, and on the analysis and dialogues around international drug policy making processes (with a special focus on the UN drug control system). Martin is a regular speaker at international policy conferences and advises various NGOs and government officials on developments in the drugs field. He is co-editor of the TNI Drugs & Conflict debate papers and the Drug Policy Briefing series.

Tom Blickman

Tom Blickman (1957) is an independant researcher and journalist, based in Amsterdam. Before coming to TNI he was active in the squatters and solidarity movements in Amsterdam. He worked for Bureau Jansen & Janssen, a research institute on intelligence and police matters. Now he specialises in International Drug Control Policy and Organised Crime as a researcher at TNI's Drugs & Democracy Programme.

Recent publications from Drugs and Democracy

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