British System, American Century: A short case study Chris Hallam This blog shows the intimate ties between the international and domestic domains of drug control. This is a well-known phenomenon; however, it involves considerable complexity. The lengths to which governments will go to reduce potential tension at the international level are apparent. This is especially…Continue Reading British System, American Century: A short case study
Trust in the Crypto-Drug Markets
By Juan Fernandez Ochoa Team Assistant – IDPC Despite perceived novelty, drugs have been online from the Internet’s very beginnings. Anecdotal as it may be, it is widely understood that the very first transaction on ARPANET involved a small amount of cannabis. Ever since, cyberspace has provided fertile ground for all sorts of drug-related exchanges. The appeal of the Internet for…Continue Reading Trust in the Crypto-Drug Markets
ICSDP (re)Blog: Scientific Experts Launch Open Letter on Need for New Metrics to Evaluate Drug Policy
Reblog from: http://www.icsdp.org/scientific_experts_launch_open_letter_on_need_for_new_metrics_to_evaluate_drug_policy On January 21, 2016, more than eighty representatives from Member States, UN agencies, and civil society organizations gathered for the launch of a scientific open letter on the path forward for drug policy evaluation. Titled, “Identifying Common Ground for UNGASS 2016: Rethinking Metrics to Evaluate Drug Policy,” the event hosted by the…Continue Reading ICSDP (re)Blog: Scientific Experts Launch Open Letter on Need for New Metrics to Evaluate Drug Policy
View From the Ground: Bocas del Toro; Drugs in Paradise
By Alastair Smith, Panama Following exploratory fieldwork in the rural coca growing fields of Colombia, GDPO followed the cocaine supply chain to Panama. Most recently, time spent on the Northern Caribbean coast soon revealed the permeation of drug trafficking into the already complex socioeconomic context that many perceive as paradise. First impressions of Bocas del…Continue Reading View From the Ground: Bocas del Toro; Drugs in Paradise
Worrying proposals to discuss the international scheduling of Ketamine at the CND in March 2015
As noted in the 2014 TNI – IDPC report Scheduling in the international drug control system, although often viewed as an obscure technical issue, the problem of scheduling lies at the core of the functioning of the international drug control system. Scheduling – the classification of a substance within a graded system of controls and restrictions, or…Continue Reading Worrying proposals to discuss the international scheduling of Ketamine at the CND in March 2015
Need Versus Greed: the Complex Nature of Opium Farming in the North East of India
This blog was written by Romesh Bhattacharji, former Narcotics Commissioner of India, founding member of the Institute of Narcotics Studies and Analysis (INSA) and GDPO Technical Advisor During the shooting of the film Raw Opium in March 2009 I was interviewed in a poor man’s steep and low yielding opium field in Kadong village of Anjaw…Continue Reading Need Versus Greed: the Complex Nature of Opium Farming in the North East of India
‘The Dilemmas of Drug Policy: Global to local’
On Wednesday 19th February GDPO hosted a film screening of ‘Raw Opium: Pain, Pleasure, Profits’ followed by a panel discussion ‘The Dilemmas of Drug Policy: Global to local’. The film itself follows the trade in opium/heroin from a poppy growing region of India, over the Tajikistan-Afghanistan border and on to Vancouver’s supervised injection site –…Continue Reading ‘The Dilemmas of Drug Policy: Global to local’
Behind the Staggering Rise in Women’s Imprisonment in Latin America
Harsh drug laws are driving a surge in the number of women imprisoned in Latin America. Between 2006 and 2011, the female prison population in Latin America almost doubled, increasing from 40,000 to more than 74,000 inmates. The vast majority of incarcerated women are in prison for drug-related offenses. Estimates range from: 75–80 percent in…Continue Reading Behind the Staggering Rise in Women’s Imprisonment in Latin America
Modernizing Drug Law Enforcement takes the stage at United Nations headquarters in New York
Last week the topic of modernizing drug law enforcement took center stage at UN Headquarters when the Permanent Missions of Switzerland and the Czech Republic to the United Nations co-sponsored a program with International Drug Policy Consortium (IDPC), Harm Reduction Coalition, the International Security Research Department at Chatham House and the International Institute for Strategic…Continue Reading Modernizing Drug Law Enforcement takes the stage at United Nations headquarters in New York