Legislative Innovation in Drug Policy

12 November 2009

Martin Jelsma

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.

Legislative Innovation in Drug Policy - Drug Law Reform Series (PDF, 768KB)

The examples provide lessons learned in practice about less punitive approaches and their impact on levels of drug use and drugrelated harm to the individual and society. Evidence suggests that legislation lessening criminalization combined with shifting resources from law enforcement and incarceration to prevention, treatment and harm reduction is more effective in reducing drug-related problems.

November 2009

Latin American Initiative on Drugs and Democracy

Legislative Innovation in Drug Policy - Drug Law Reform Series (PDF, 768KB)

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.

Recent publications from Drugs and Democracy

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.