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War on Drugs

The war on drugs is waged at its worst in the source zone of production. Major consumer countries - the US in particular - think they are able to tackle drug consumption at home by reducing the supply from the "source zones" such as the Andean region - Colombia, Bolivia and Peru - and Central and South-East Asia - Afghanistan and Burma. The primary goal of the supply reduction strategies is to decrease the amount of drugs entering the major consuming countries and subsequently, because the strategy allegedly leads to higher prices that would lead to lower demand.
    Why peace and land security is key to Burma's democratic future
    May 2012
    Tom Kramer

    Analysis of the social costs of large-scale Chinese-supported rubber farms in northern Burma suggests that the future for ordinary citizens will be affected as much by the country's chosen economic path as the political reforms underway. 

    Six Steps towards a Drugs Policy that Promotes Peace and Respects Human Rights
    April 2012
    TNI
     Accion Andina, WOLA, CIDDH et al.

    Six steps that the presidents of the Americas can take to start a humane drugs control policy, as outlined by Civil society organisations from Latin America and worldwide.

    Latin America debates alternatives to current drug policy
    April 2012
    Drugs and Democracy

    Debate on alternatives to the war on drugs, which TNI has promoted for years, is finally received unprecedented attention as several Latin America presidents put it on the agenda of the highest level intergovernmental meeting in the hemisphere.

    Drugs on Latin America summit's agenda
    April 2012
    Martin Jelsma

    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.

    Financing Dispossession
    February 2012
    Tom Kramer
     Kevin Woods

    China’s opium crop substitution programme has very little to do with providing mechanisms to decrease reliance on poppy cultivation or provide alternative livelihoods for ex-poppy growers. Financing dispossession is not development.

    Drugs&Democracy - Transnational Institute
    The War on Colombia’s Poor
    January 2012
    Ross Eventon

    The EU's proposed free trade agreement with Colombia will worsen the already serious human rights violations in the country, as its drive to access to cheap raw materials for European corporations means forcing local people off their land.

    The Crime Decline & California’s Priorities in the 21st Century
    June 2011
    Tom Reifer

    That increasing numbers of California's youth end up in prison may yield some short term perceptions of declining crime rates, but what about the long-term education deficit?

    Colombia: A successful case for the war on drugs?
    January 2011
    Ricardo Vargas

    Is Colombia's narcotrafficking situation comparable to that of Mexico, including the strategies needed to combat it?

    The ‘miracle of San Martín’ and symptoms of ‘alternative development’ in Peru
    December 2010
    Hugo Cabieses

    The Peruvian government has presented the “Miracle of San Martin Model” as the path to follow to achieve drug supply reduction. However a closer look reveals that the model is not replicable, not ecologically sustainable, and won't remedy the ‘symptoms of alternative development’.

    Drug Policy Briefing No. 34
    Military Force Isn't the Answer in Mexico's Drug Wars
    November 2010
    Manuel Perez Rocha

    Mexicans don't want the current ill conceived war on drugs. It is fought with disregard to the high costs in terms of human rights and lives and mistakenly portrayed as 'courageous'.

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