TNI/WOLA Drug Law Reform Project

16 February 2010

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

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

TNI-WOLA's drug law reform website documents the human toll of failed drug policies in Latin America, providing information, analysis, testimonies and information on efforts for reform.


The TNI/WOLA Drug Law Reform Project promotes more effective and humane drug policies through dialogue and up-to-date analysis of developments in the region.

The project was created amidst growing evidence that the decades long “War on Drugs” has failed. Current international drug control policies have not decreased drug consumption, curbed the planting of crops destined for the illicit market, or curtailed the expanding drug trade. Instead, they have marginalized drug users who are pushed out of reach of treatment programs, repressed farmers who may have no other means of survival, and overwhelmed criminal justice systems. Such policies have targeted users and small-scale traffickers, while large-scale criminal organizations have remained unrestrained.

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

Our analysts – scholars, policy-makers, and legal experts – provide up-to-date information on drug policy developments in Latin America. The TNI/WOLA Drug Law Reform Project is coordinating a series of informal drug policy dialogues and workshops in the region. Our in-country researchers are conducting investigations of drug control laws, their applications, and prison conditions in eight key countries: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Peru, and Uruguay.

   Promoting dialogue toward more effective
   and humane drug policies in Latin America

 

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De wankelende ‘Weense consensus’ over drugsbeleid

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.

Between Reality and Abstraction

At the International Conference on Alter­native Development (ICAD), held 15-16 November 2012 in Lima, the Peruvian Government continued to insist on the relevance of “Alternative Development (AD),” with particular emphasis on the so-called San Martín “miracle” or “model.”

The illicit drugs market in the Colombian agrarian context

The distribution of land and its unjust use are the major causes of violence in Colombia. For this reason land issues are the starting point of current peace talks between the Santos government and the FARC guerrillas

Bogotá’s medical care centres for drug addicts

The opening in September 2012 of the first centre for drug addicts in Bogota is a welcome first step towards more humane and effective drug policies in Colombia’s capital city, but to be effective needs to be integrated into proper overall drugs strategy.