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The illicit drugs market in the Colombian agrarian context
Why the issue of illicit cultivation is highly relevant to the peace process
Amira ArmentaTNI Drug Policy Briefing Nr. 40
February 2013The distribution of land and its unjust use are the major causes of violence in Colombia. For this reason land issues are the starting point of current peace talks between the Santos government and the FARC guerrillas. Remedying these structural problems at the heart of rural Colombia is the best guarantee of progress of the current peace negotiations that could bring an end to a half-century-old violent conflict.
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Between Reality and Abstraction
Guiding Principles and developing alternatives for illicit crop producing regions in Peru
Mirella van Dun, Hugo Cabieses Cubas and Pien MetaalTNI Drug Policy Briefing Nr. 39
January 2013At the International Conference on Alternative Development (ICAD), held 15-16 November 2012 in Lima, the Peruvian Government continued to insist on the relevance of “Alternative Development (AD),” with particular emphasis on the so-called San Martín “miracle” or “model.” The model, started with the support of international cooperation, is proposed by Peru as a paradigm to be followed worldwide by regions and countries that also deal with problems associated with crops grown for illicit purposes.
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The Northern Triangle’s drugs-violence nexus
The role of the drugs trade in criminal violence and policy responses in Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras
Liza Ten VeldeTNI Drugs & Conflict Debate Paper 19
November 2012Mexico 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 Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador – currently experiencing much higher rates of violence and increasing Drug Trafficking Organization (DTOs) activity, thus providing an illustration of the 'balloon effect' previously experienced by Mexico itself after the implementation of Plan Colombia which was conceived at the end of the 90's. Together the countries of the Northern Triangle now form one of the most violent regions on earth.
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Bogotá’s medical care centres for drug addicts (CAMAD)
An initative wedged between political discourse and technical action
Julián QuinteroSeries on Legislative Reform of Drug Policies Nr. 22
November 2012In September 2012, the mayor of Bogotá, Gustavo Petro, launched the first centre for drug addicts in the Bronx, a marginalised city-centre neighbourhood. Called the Medical Care Centre for Dependent Drug Users (Centro de Atención Médica a Drogodependientes - CAMAD), it is staffed by psychiatrists, psychologists, doctors and nurses. The people given care in these centres are in an at-risk situation and socially excluded due to their high levels of drug dependency.
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A breakthrough in the making?
Shifts in the Latin American drug policy debate
Amira Armenta Pien Metaal Martin JelsmaSeries on Legislative Reform of Drug Policies Nr. 21
June 2012Remarkable 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. All in all there is an undeniable regional trend of moving away from the ‘war on drugs’. This briefing explains the background to the opening of the drug policy debate in the region, summarises the most relevant aspects of the ongoing drug law reforms in some countries, and makes a series of recommendations that could help to move the debate forward in a productive manner.
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Drugs, crime and punishment
Proportionality of sentencing for drug offences
Gloria LaiSeries on Legislative Reform of Drug Policies Nr. 20
June 2012Proportionality is one of the key principles of the rule of law aiming to protect people from cruel or inhumane treatment. The principle has been established in international and regional human rights agreements and many countries have adopted reflections of it in their constitution or penal code. Its application to drug-related offences is firstly the responsibility of the legislators, in defining the level of penalisation of certain behaviours. The level of penalisation should be determined according to the severity of damage that a certain behaviour causes to others or to society.
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Towards revision of the UN drug control conventions
The logic and dilemmas of Like-Minded Groups
Dave Bewley-TaylorSeries on Legislative Reform of Drug Policies Nr. 19
March 2012Recent years have seen a growing unwillingness among increasing numbers of States parties to fully adhere to a strictly prohibitionist reading of the UN drug control conventions; the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs (as amended by the 1972 Protocol), the 1971 Convention on Psychotropic Substances; and the 1988 Convention against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances.
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The Limits of Latitude
The UN drug control conventions
Dave Bewley-Taylor Martin JelsmaSeries on Legislative Reform of Drug Policies Nr. 18
March 2012Faced with a complex range of drug related problems, a growing number of nations are exploring the development of nationally appropriate policies that shift away from the prohibition-oriented approach that has long dominated the field but is losing more and more legitimacy. In so doing, such countries must pay close attention to the UN based global drug control framework of which practically all nations are a part.
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Chewing over Khat prohibition
The globalisation of control and regulation of an ancient stimulant
Axel Klein Martin Jelsma Pien MetaalSeries on Legislative Reform of Drug Policies Nr. 17
January 2012In the context of a fast changing and well documented market in legal highs, the case of khat (Catha edulis) provides an interesting anomaly. It is first of all a plant-based substance that undergoes minimal transformation or processing in the journey from farm to market. Secondly, khat has been consumed for hundreds if not thousands of years in the highlands of Eastern Africa and Southern Arabia. In European countries, khat use was first observed during the 1980s, but has only attracted wider attention in recent years.
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'Legal highs'
The challenge of new psychoactive substances
Adam Winstock and Chris WilkinsSeries on Legislative Reform of Drug Policies Nr. 16
October 2011This paper aims to set out some of the policy and public health issues raised by the appearance of a wide range of emergent psychoactive substances of diverse origin, effect and risk profile (commonly referred to as ‘legal highs’). It will start by considering what is meant by the term ‘legal highs’ and consider the historical context that has framed their appearance and must inform any response. It will then consider some of the approaches that have been adopted by different nations to control their availability and associated harms, including a preliminary assessment of their consequences, both intended and not.
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