Drugs and Democracy

In December 2009, the Congress in Colombia passed a constitutional reform that prohibits the consumption and possession of certain quantities of drugs for personal use, that had previously been legal in the 1991 Constitution. This regressive step is unlikely to reduce consumption and will probably increase overcrowding which plague some of the country’s major prison centres

Overview of drug laws and legislative trends in Chile.

Overview of drug laws and legislative trends in Brazil.

In 1995 the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute (UNICRI) announced in a press release the publication of the results of the largest global study on cocaine use ever undertaken.

An interactive guide on the status of drug law reform throughout Latin America.

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.

The security threat has made the operations of international agencies in Afghanistan more costly, but it is also one of the few booming sectors providing much needed jobs to some and lucrative profits to others. TNI staff report from Afghanistan.

This briefing summarizes good practices in legislative reforms around the world, representing steps away from a repressive zero-tolerance model towards a more evidence-based and humane drug policy.