Nederland is met zijn drugsbeleid in de achterhoede terecht gekomen. Zo zijn Uruguay en de Amerikaanse staten Washington en Colorado, met hun besluit de cannabismarkt van teelt tot gebruik te legaliseren, Nederland voorbijgestreefd.
There is an undeniable regional trend of moving away from the ‘war on drugs’ in Latin America. This briefing explains the background, summarises the state of ongoing drug law reforms, and makes recommendations to move the debate forward.
A critical rethink of the war on drugs features prominently on the agenda of the Cartagena summit. This provides opportunities to move forward but also faces several risks that could suffocate the remarkable yet incipient political opening of the drugs debate in Latin America.
Policy priorities should focus on how best to manage and reduce the many health and social harms associated with the reality of a persistent and ever changing drugs market.
A growing number of nations are developing policies that shift away from the prohibition-oriented failed approach to drugs control. Ultimately however nations will need to reform the overall UN based global drug control framework of which practically all nations are a part.
Khat has been consumed for thousands of years in the highlands of Eastern Africa and Southern Arabia.Strict bans on khat introduced in Europe ostensibly for the protection of immigrant communities have had severe unintended negative consequences.
The guardian of the UN drug control treaties has proved unable to respond in a rational manner to the need for radical reform of the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs.
Fifty years after its entering into force, it is time for a critical reflection on the validity of the Single Convention today: a reinterpretation of its historical significance and an assessment of its aims, its strengths and its weaknesses.
This briefing paper analyses the reasons behind Bolivia’s proposal to remove from the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs the obligation to abolish the practice of coca chewing and the opposing arguments that have been brought forward.
The International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) just released its annual report. Martin Jelsma - who has followed the Board's policy for many years now with a critical eye - examines its negative stance towards harm reduction and decriminalization, and questions the Board's tendency to overstep its mandate.
TNI's paper for the Global Commission on Drug Policy describes the foundations of the global drug control system, its degeneration into the 'war on drugs', and how international drug policy can be made both more effective and more humane.
The emergence of more pragmatic and less punitive approaches to the drugs issue may represent the beginning of change in the current global drug control regime.
Afghanistan remains the world’s largest producer of opium and has an under-reported but growing heroin-use problem. Current drug control policies in Afghanistan are unrealistic, reflecting a need for immediate signs of hope rather than a serious analysis of the underlying causes and an effort to achieve long-term solutions.
The opium ban in Afghanistan's Nangarhar province has forced some farmers to move to alternative crops, but many poor farmers have difficulties finding alternative sources of income.
Afghanistan's drug problem is not simply one of opium production - there is a growing number of heroin addicts that the country is ill prepared to deal with.
