Drug Law Reform in East and Southeast Asia is a multi-author look at drugs in East and Southeast Asia, on drug policy, patterns and trends, local problems, human rights abuses, treatment prospects, and potential reforms. From the history of drugs in Asia, the book examines recent trends in illicit drugs, especially the present enormous amphetamine problems. It addresses recent policy shifts, especially harm reduction responses to the devastating drug-associated HIV epidemics. It explores further necessary reform, especially in regard to the abysmally inhuman current emphasis on detention and the death penalty for drug offences, and present the most recent evidence on effective and humane approaches to drug treatments. As the first comprehensive collection on illicit drug and harm reduction in East and Southeast Asia, it will be a vital resource for health professionals, policymakers, and others working there and elsewhere on drug policy reform. As the first comprehensive collection on illicit drugs and harm reduction in East and Southeast Asia, it will be a vital resource for health professionals, policymakers, and others working on East and Southeast Asia--and elsewhere--on drug policy."

Drug Law Reform in East and Southeast Asia is a multi-author, regional look at drug policy across East and Southeast Asia, focusing on drug patterns and trends, problems faced locally, human rights abuses, regional similarities, treatment prospects and potential reforms. Drug Law Reform in East and Southeast Asia describes how drugs came to Asia, looks at trends in illicit drug use up to the present, especially the enormous amphetamine problem that East and Southeast Asia face, among other issues of concern. There are many issues of major controversy around illicit drugs in Asia, as elsewhere, and the book faces these issues squarely. It addresses the recent shift towards harm reduction in response to the frightening and devastating epidemics of HIV and AIDS associated with injecting of heroin in the region, and examines and suggests possible ways forward in regard to the death penalty for drug offences. The most recent evidence about effective and humane approaches to drug treatment, to replace the abysmally inhuman current emphasis on detention, is presented. This is the first time a regional collection of expert writing on a comprehensive range of aspects of illicit drugs has been made available to inform the critical development of drug policy in the many countries.