TNI/WOLA Drug Law Reform Project

Drug Law Reform in Latin America is a joint project of TNI and the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA)

"Promoting a more effective and humane drug policy in Latin America"

The TNI/WOLA drug policy project aims to promote debate about more effective and humane justice system and drugs legislation.

The project was created amidst growing evidence that the decades long “War on Drugs” has failed. The current international drug control framework has not decreased drug consumption, suppressed the planting of crops destined for the illicit market, or curtailed the expanding drug trade. Instead, it has marginalized drug users, who are pushed out of reach of treatment programs, repressed farmers, who may have no other means of survival but the planting of such crops, and overwhelmed the criminal justice systems. On the other hand, it has applied long prison sentences for small scale traffickers, whereas big scale criminal organizations have remained untouched. The policy of criminalizing drug users and farmers diverts resources from dismantling drug-trafficking organizations; and in some countries, sentences are so disproportionate to the crimes, that they themselves amount to human rights violations.

It is time for an honest discussion based on research and analysis on the effectiveness of current and alternative drug policies. The TNI/WOLA drug policy project aims to inform national and international debates, incorporating the issues of effective law enforcement practices, harm reduction, proportionality of sentences, prison reform, and human rights.

Our experts provide up-to-date analysis of drug policy developments in Latin America. In addition to coordinating a series of informal drug policy dialogues and workshops with government and policy experts in the region, TNI/WOLA in-country researchers will conduct investigations on drug control legislation and its application, in relation to the prison situation in eight key countries: Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Mexico and Uruguay.

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