The drug control regime established by the international community has not succeeded in curbing either the demand for, or the offer of, narcotics. But, despite a series of developments in the Americas - including the legalisation of cannabis in Uruguay and in several states in the United States of America - there is still little support in Europe for repealing drug-prohibition laws. Nevertheless, a gradual policy convergence reveals the emergence of a European model favouring public-health strategies over a strictly penal approach to combatting drugs, while growing transnational support for legalisation indicates the persistence of an alternative paradigm for drug policy. This book examines the various influences on drug policies in Europe, as grassroots movements, NGO networks, private foundations and academic research centres increasingly confront the prevailing discourses of drug prohibition. Pursuing an interdisciplinary approach and bringing together legal scholars, social scientists and practitioners, it provides a comprehensive and critical assessment of drug policy reform in Europe.

The drug control regime established by the international community has not succeeded in curbing either the demand for, or the offer of, narcotics. But, despite a series of developments in the Americas - including the legalisation of cannabis in Uruguay and in several states in the United States of America - there is still little support in Europe for repealing drug-prohibition laws. Nevertheless, a gradual policy convergence reveals the emergence of a European model favouring public-health strategies over a strictly penal approach to combatting drugs, while growing transnational support for legalisation indicates the persistence of an alternative paradigm for drug policy. This book examines the various influences on drug policies in Europe, as grassroots movements, NGO networks, private foundations and academic research centres increasingly confront the prevailing discourses of drug prohibition. Pursuing an interdisciplinary approach and bringing together legal scholars, social scientists and practitioners, it provides a comprehensive and critical assessment of drug policy reform in Europe.

EU Criminal Justice and the Challenges of Diversity examines how questions of cultural difference between Member States' legal traditions are being constructed, addressed, and resolved in the development of the European Area of Freedom, Security, and Justice. The volume brings together leading socio-legal scholars and criminal justice professors from eight European countries and combines analytical approaches rooted in the social sciences with more normative approaches based on legal doctrine. It examines the construction of a common European criminal policy, explores some of the paths that may be followed by the EU in seeking to cope with national diversity in the field of criminal justice, and finally provides some insights into various forms of legal and cultural resistance offered by Member States to the European harmonisation process. In so doing, it bridges disciplinary boundaries between law and social sciences, and draws in a range of perspectives from around Europe.

EU Criminal Justice and the Challenges of Diversity examines how questions of cultural difference between Member States' legal traditions are being constructed, addressed, and resolved in the development of the European Area of Freedom, Security, and Justice. The volume brings together leading socio-legal scholars and criminal justice professors from eight European countries and combines analytical approaches rooted in the social sciences with more normative approaches based on legal doctrine. It examines the construction of a common European criminal policy, explores some of the paths that may be followed by the EU in seeking to cope with national diversity in the field of criminal justice, and finally provides some insights into various forms of legal and cultural resistance offered by Member States to the European harmonisation process. In so doing, it bridges disciplinary boundaries between law and social sciences, and draws in a range of perspectives from around Europe.