Category: modernizing drug law enforcement

Introducing Spike on a Bike: An interview with the Project Architects.

By Joe Janes, Lecturer in Criminology, Swansea University and GDPO Harm Reduction project lead Saddle up! Today, we’re diving deep into harm reduction and the Spike on a Bike project Saddle up! Today, we’re diving deep into harm reduction and the Spike on a Bike project in Dyfed Powys, where a revolutionary project is flipping…Continue Reading Introducing Spike on a Bike: An interview with the Project Architects.

My Harm Reduction Journey from the University to an NGO

By Temitope Salami I arrived in Swansea University from Nigeria in October 2020, a week after my Masters programme in Applied Criminal Justice and Criminology had commenced. This was a difficult time considering the pandemic had morphed into phase two and there was talk in the media about a possible second nationwide lockdown amid a…Continue Reading My Harm Reduction Journey from the University to an NGO

“The disposable foot soldiers of crime” – Media, County Lines and Moral Panics

By Ellie Harding, MA candidate in Applied Criminal Justice and Criminology, Swansea University ‘We are cutting the head off the snake and taking down the kingpins behind these deadly supply lines…Drug abuse and addiction ruins communities, devastates lives and tears families apart.’ So announced Priti Patel in her speech to the annual Conservative Party conference…Continue Reading “The disposable foot soldiers of crime” – Media, County Lines and Moral Panics

Aerial Fumigation in Colombia: A Success for Someone

Ross Eventon* In 2011, when the multi-billion-dollar Plan Colombia had officially come to an end, the UNDP described the “rural development model” in Colombia as “highly inequitable and exclusionary.” The model “causes innumerable rural conflicts, does not recognize the differences between social actors, and leads to the inappropriate use and destruction of natural resources.”  Any…Continue Reading Aerial Fumigation in Colombia: A Success for Someone

Cultivating Change: The Contemporary Challenges of Studying Cannabis Regulation in Jamaica

Branwen Lloyd* At the end of summer 2019 the GDPO was successful in an application to Swansea University’s Higher Education Funding Council for Wales – Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF) scheme. The GCRF is a £1.5 billion fund announced by the UK Government in 2015 to support cutting-edge research that addresses the challenges faced by…Continue Reading Cultivating Change: The Contemporary Challenges of Studying Cannabis Regulation in Jamaica

Drugs, Prisons and ‘Unintended Consequences’ – Does drug interdiction drive drug-related harms?

Rick Lines, Olivia Howells and Daniel Webb* The availability of drugs in prisons around the world is well documented. In Europe alone, up to seventy percent of people in prison have used an illicit drug. In Canada, forty-eight percent of prisoners in federal correctional institutions have had ‘problems’ with drugs. In Australia, one in six…Continue Reading Drugs, Prisons and ‘Unintended Consequences’ – Does drug interdiction drive drug-related harms?

Nowhere to hide: It’s high time we measured countries’ performance in drug policy

By Marie Nougier IDPC Head of Research and Communications & Dave Bewley-Taylor, GDPO Director First published here by IPDC, October 2019  Traditionally, the UN and governments have measured progress in drug policy in terms of flows and scale; principally the numbers of people arrested, hectares of drug crops eradicated and the amounts of drugs seized. For years now, IDPC and…Continue Reading Nowhere to hide: It’s high time we measured countries’ performance in drug policy

What have the Russians done for us in the international drug policy field? A timely reminder to take back control

Axel Klein, GDPO Senior Research Associate. April 24, 2019. At the 62nd meeting of the UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND) in March this year the tensions between states with widely diverging drug policies finally came to the surface. On the floor of the plenary meeting the Russian delegation took Canada to task for ‘violating…Continue Reading What have the Russians done for us in the international drug policy field? A timely reminder to take back control

Yes, legalizing marijuana breaks treaties. We can deal with that.

By John Walsh, Tom Blickman, Martin Jelsma and Dave Bewley-Taylor This Op-Ed was originally published in iPolitics on December 11th, 2017 Buzzing in the background of Canada’s debate on cannabis legalization is the issue of the three UN drug control treaties, and what to do with them. The issue arose during the House of Commons’…Continue Reading Yes, legalizing marijuana breaks treaties. We can deal with that.

View from the Ground – Harm reduction, drug policy and the law in the Maghreb: focus on Tunisia and Mauritania

View from the Ground – Harm reduction, drug policy and the law in the Maghreb: focus on Tunisia and Mauritania Khalid Tinasti Honorary Research Associate, Swansea University July 2017 Introduction: The Maghreb countries – Algeria, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco and Tunisia – while seldom discussed, are crucial to global debates on drug control policies. These countries…Continue Reading View from the Ground – Harm reduction, drug policy and the law in the Maghreb: focus on Tunisia and Mauritania