THE POLITICS OF NARCOTIC DRUGS: A Survey aims to explore the complexities of the drugs trade, and the political challenges and opportunities that exist for more effective approaches to the issues involved. The various sections of this volume provide the reader with an insight into the numerous debates, histories and experiences of drugs and the drugs trade and, most importantly, highlight the fact that the policy challenges currently faced by societies and governments do not configure in a simplistic way around a pro- or anti-legalization discourse. Contents include: Essay chapters, written by specialists in the field, which demonstrate the diversity, scale and nature of the drug `problem' and the importance of empirically informed, depoliticized responses. The first essays are international in focus, addressing the situation in Afghanistan, the Middle East, Colombia and Mexico before turning to the institutional anti-drugs context in the United Kingdom. Thereafter, the chapters are more theoretically oriented, with the authors exploring the prohibition model, the relationship between drugs and insurgency, and reflections on principles and approaches that might be considered when exploring alternatives to the status quo. A comprehensive cross-referenced A - Z Glossary of terms, organizations and issues with regard to drugs. Entries include caffeine, cocaine, Drug Enforcement Administration, mule, opium, UNODC (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime) and volatile substances. Maps, charts and tables offering a wealth of information in graphic form. Maps include areas of cultivation of crops used for drugs, and statistics inform on production, seizures and prices of various narcotic drugs.

This title was first published in 2001. The victory of former lieutenant colonel Hugo Chavez in the Venezuelan presidential elections of 1998 was criticized as a blow against the country's deep-seated democratic tradition. It is claimed that this simplistic argument fails to recognize the extent of democratic deterioration in the country and the limitations imposed by discredited political actors on a meaningful democratic reform process. The book aims to break new ground in providing unseen evidence of electoral fraud and offers a fresh perspective on the nature of democratic development.

This title was first published in 2001. The victory of former lieutenant colonel Hugo Chavez in the Venezuelan presidential elections of 1998 was criticized as a blow against the country's deep-seated democratic tradition. It is claimed that this simplistic argument fails to recognize the extent of democratic deterioration in the country and the limitations imposed by discredited political actors on a meaningful democratic reform process. The book aims to break new ground in providing unseen evidence of electoral fraud and offers a fresh perspective on the nature of democratic development.

The ebook edition of this title is Open Access and freely available to read online. The international strategy of criminalising the cultivation, manufacture, distribution and use of certain psychoactive substances has failed to achieve a 'drug free world'. Examining the impact of drug criminalisation and enforcement on a previously overlooked demographic, this edited collection argues that women are negatively and disproportionately affected by this flawed policy approach. Addressing the lack of attention on the experience of women, this collection details the challenges women face in accessing appropriate treatment and services, the stigmatisation and marginalisation resulting from engagement in illegal drug markets, the violence that women are exposed to, and the punitive sentences imposed on women for drug related offences. Bringing together an international group of academics, advocates, activists and those with lived experience, the editors offer a rounded and realistic view from women's perspectives. In doing so, they facilitate a call for feminist and women's organisations to embrace drug policy reform, and for international and national level drug control authorities to better engage women as stakeholders.

The Politics of Narcotic Drugs brings together leading experts on the drugs trade to provide an accessible yet detailed analysis of the multiple challenges that the contemporary trade in narcotic drugs and its prohibition pose, from the local to the international community.

Through the use of country and regional case studies that include Afghanistan, Mexico, Colombia and the Middle East, the drivers of the drugs trade and the security and development dilemmas created by the prohibition of narcotic substances are explored. Contributions that assess the international drug control regime, British anti-drug enforcement organizations, 'narcoterrorism' and options for drug policy reform engage readers in current debates and the narrative frameworks that shape discussion of the drugs issue. The book is an invaluable guide to the dynamic and far-reaching issue of narcotic drugs and the impact of their prohibition on our countries and communities.

The chapters are followed by an A-Z glossary of key terms, issues and organizations, and a section of maps and statistics.

Reclaiming Latin America is a one-stop guide to the revival of social democratic and socialist politics across the region. At the end of the Cold War, and through decades of neoliberal domination and the 'Washington Consensus' it seemed that the left could do nothing but beat a ragged retreat in Latin America. Yet this book looks at the new opportunities that sprang up through electoral politics and mass action during that period. The chapters here warn against over-simplification of the so-called 'pink wave'. Instead, through detailed historical analysis of Latin America as a whole and country-specific case studies, the book demonstrates the variety of approaches to establishing a lasting social justice. From the anti-imperialism of the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas in Venezuela, Bolivia and Cuba, to the more gradualist routes being taken in Chile, Argentina and Brazil, Reclaiming Latin America gives a real sense of the plurality of political responses to popular discontent.

Reclaiming Latin America is a one-stop guide to the revival of social democratic and socialist politics across the region. At the end of the Cold War, and through decades of neoliberal domination and the 'Washington Consensus' it seemed that the left could do nothing but beat a ragged retreat in Latin America. Yet this book looks at the new opportunities that sprang up through electoral politics and mass action during that period. The chapters here warn against over-simplification of the so-called 'pink wave'. Instead, through detailed historical analysis of Latin America as a whole and country-specific case studies, the book demonstrates the variety of approaches to establishing a lasting social justice. From the anti-imperialism of the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas in Venezuela, Bolivia and Cuba, to the more gradualist routes being taken in Chile, Argentina and Brazil, Reclaiming Latin America gives a real sense of the plurality of political responses to popular discontent.

This book explores the origins, history and organisation of the international system of narcotic drug control with a specific focus on heroin, cannabis and cocaine. It argues that the century-long quest to eliminate the production, trade in and use of narcotic drugs has been a profound failure. The statistics produced by the international and domestic narcotic drug control agencies point to a sustained expansion of the drug trade, despite the imposition of harsh criminal sanctions against those engaged, as producers, traffickers or consumers, in the narcotic drugs market. The roots of this major international policy failure are traced back to the outdated ideology of prohibition, which is shown to be counterproductive, utopian and a fundamentally inadequate basis for narcotic drug policy in the twenty-first century. Prohibition, championed by many US policy makers, has left the international community poorly positioned to confront those changes to the drug trade and drug markets that have resulted from globalisation. Moreover, prohibition based approaches are causing more harm than good, as is demonstrated through reference to issues such as HIV/AIDS, the environment, conflict, development and social justice. As the drug control system approaches its centenary, there are signs that the global consensus on narcotic drug prohibition is fracturing. Some European and South American states are pushing for a new approach based on regulation, decriminalisation and harm reduction. But those seeking to revise prohibition strategies faces entrenched resistance, primarily by the U.S. This important text argues that successive American governments have pursued a contradictory approach; acting decisively against the narcotic drug trade at home and abroad, while at the same time working with drug traffickers and producer states when it is in America's strategic interest. As a result, US policy approaches emerge as a decisive factor in accounting for the failure of prohibition.