Ending the war on drugs

People deprived of their liberty for drug offenses: The social costs of drug policy

2015-11-10T14:14:35+00:00

The Research Consortium on Drugs and the Law (Colectivo de Estudios Drogas y Derecho, CEDD) released a series of new studies showing that despite the current debate in Latin America on the need to re ...

Improving global drug policy: Comparative perspectives and UNGASS 2016

2015-04-30T07:55:49+00:00

As the world prepares for the 2016 Special Session of the United Nations General Assembly on the World Drug Problem (UNGASS 2016), an increasing number of countries around the world now find the regi ...

Despite U.N. treaties, war against drugs a losing battle

2015-02-27T12:36:30+00:00

As the call for the decriminalisation of drugs steadily picks up steam worldwide, a new study by the London-based charity Health Poverty Action concludes there has been no significant reduction in th ...

Does tougher enforcement make drugs more expensive?

2015-12-16T00:17:19+00:00

Although the fact of prohibition itself raises prices far above those likely to pertain in legal markets, there is little evidence that raising the risk of arrest, incarceration or seizure at differe ...

Taking Control: Pathways to Drug Policies that Work

2014-09-09T15:00:27+00:00

The upcoming United Nations General Assembly Special Session on Drugs (UNGASS) in 2016 is an unprecedented opportunity to review and re-direct national drug control policies and the future of the glo ...

Ending the Drug Wars

2014-05-08T15:19:58+00:00

The Expert Group on the Economics of Drug Policy was convened to produce the most thorough independent economic analysis of the current international drug control strateg ever conducted. It aims to u ...

Breaking the taboo about drugs

2013-05-20T10:11:07+00:00

After more than four decades of a failed war on drugs, calls for a change in strategy are growing louder by the day. In Latin America, the debate is positively deafening. Statesmen from Colombia, Gua ...

The unintended negative consequences of the 'war on drugs'

2013-04-17T11:08:18+00:00

Criminalisation of drug users, excessive levels of imprisonment, and punitive sentencing practices, including mandatory sentencing, the death penalty and enforced ‘drug detention centres’, are some o ...

The Northern Triangle’s drugs-violence nexus

2012-11-28T13:38:48+00:00

Mexico has occupied the limelight when it comes to media attention focusing on drug-related violence in Latin America. However, it is actually Central America's Northern Triangle – consisting of Guat ...

A breakthrough in the making?

2012-06-25T16:31:33+00:00

Remarkable drug policy developments are taking place in Latin America. This is not only at the level of political debate, but is also reflected in actual legislative changes in a number of countries. ...

The Alternative World Drug Report

2012-06-28T14:21:07+00:00

The Alternative World Drug Report, launched to coincide with publication of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime’s 2012 World Drug Report, exposes the failure of governments and the UN to assess the extr ...

The War on Drugs and HIV/AIDS

2012-06-28T13:39:12+00:00

The global war on drugs is driving the HIV pandemic among people who use drugs and their sexual partners. Throughout the world, research has consistently shown that repressive drug law enforcement pr ...

The Prohibition of Illicit Drugs is Killing and Criminalising our Children

2012-04-04T10:30:52+00:00

It is time to reopen the national debate about drug use, its regulation and control. In June 2011 a prestigious Global Commission stated that the 40-year “War on Drugs” has failed, with devastating c ...

Considering New Strategies for Confronting Organized Crime in Mexico

2012-03-29T16:42:11+00:00

Mexico has experienced an unprecedented rise in crime and violence over the past five years with over 47,000 people killed in crime related violence during this period. For some, the increase in viol ...

Drug Policy in the Andes

2011-12-18T12:30:02+00:00

Fifty years after signing the United Nations Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs and 40 years after the U.S. government declared a "war on drugs," many obstacles remain despite the partial successes ...

The global war on drugs has failed

2011-11-21T16:36:26+00:00

Fifty years after the 1961 UN Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs was launched, the global war on drugs has failed, and has had many unintended and devastating consequences worldwide. It empowers cri ...

Drug Control Policy: What the United States Can Learn from Latin America

2011-06-22T09:21:34+00:00

Since the 1912 signing of the Hague Opium Convention—the agreement that formally established narcotics control within international law—the United States has established itself as the dominant actor ...

Global Commission on Drug Policy Report

2011-06-02T10:00:40+00:00

The global war on drugs has failed, with devastating consequences for individuals and societies around the world. Fifty years after the initiation of the UN Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, and 4 ...

The development of international drug control

2011-02-21T09:55:41+00:00

The emergence of more pragmatic and less punitive approaches to the drugs issue may represent the beginning of change in the current global drug control regime. The spread of HIV/AIDS among injecting ...

Toward a Paradigm Shift

2009-02-12T15:22:54+00:00

Prohibitionist policies based on the eradication of production and on the disruption of drug flows as well as on the criminalization of consumption have not yielded the desired results. We are furthe ...