Unless alternative livelihoods are already firmly in place, eradication of coca and opium poppy crops is counter-productive, according to a new WOLA study that identifies ten lessons learned for promoting alternative livelihoods, based on decades of evidence in countries from Thailand and Burma to Afghanistan and the Andes.
Afghanistan remains the world’s largest producer of opium and has an under-reported but growing heroin-use problem. Current drug control policies in Afghanistan lack focus and are unrealistic, driven by headlines rather than evidence. They reflect a need for immediate signs of hope rather than a serious analysis of the underlying causes and an effort to achieve long-term solutions.
Watch the opening speech of the DPA director at the International Drug Policy Reform Conference in New Mexico (November 12 -14, 2009). He said "right now the wind is at our back" - highlighting how the drug policy reform movement has an unprecedented momentum to end the drug war in the United States.
In this report, Transform Drug Policy Foundation demonstrates that moving to the legal regulation of drugs is not an unthinkable, politically impossible step in the dark, but a sensible, pragmatic approach to control drug production, supply and use.
This briefing from TNI 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. The examples provide lessons learned in practice about less punitive approaches and their impact on levels of drug use and drug-related harm to the individual and society.
This survey conducted by the New Zealand Drug Foundation asseses knowledge, attitudes and behaviours around driving under the influence of psychoactive substances, including illicit drugs, prescription medicines, and alcohol in New Zealand.
Tensions are rising in Burma with respect to the cease-fire agreements with ethnic minority groups along the northern border. Cease-fire groups have put their armed forces on high alert. Ethnic conflict must be resolved in order to bring about a lasting political solution in Burma.
This Beckley Briefing compares the drug situation in a number of developed countries presenting data to stimulate further research and provide information for analysts and policy makers for more effective drug control.
TNI's article gives inputs for the Latin American drug policy reform debate by providing an overview of European drug policy practices regarding harm reduction, decriminalisation and tolerant approaches to cannabis.
The sixth meeting of the Informal Drug Policy Dialogue series, a joint initiative of the Andreas Papandreou Foundation and the Transnational Institute, took place in Kolymbari-Chania, Crete, on 22 and 23 May, 2009.
Three Italian NGOs, Forum droghe/Fuoriluogo, Antigone, Società della ragione, have recently released a “White Book”, to illustrate the effects of drug legislation on the penal system (from 2006 until 2007).