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1. Enforcement of Drug Laws: Refocusing on Organized Crime Elite

Author:
Global Commission On Drug Policy
Publication Date:
05-2020
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Global Commission On Drug Policy
Abstract:
In this first report of this decade, the Global Commission on Drug Policy outlines how the current international drug control regime works for the benefit of transnational organized crime. It highlights how years of repressive policies targeted at nonviolent drug offenders have resulted in mass incarceration and produced countless adverse impacts on public health, the rule of law, and social cohesion, whilst at the same time reinforcing criminal elites. The report argues that the top layers of criminal organizations must be disempowered, through policy responses and political will. It provides implementable recommendations for the replacement of the current policy of targeting non-violent drug offenders and resorting to mass incarceration. Law enforcement must focus on the most dangerous and protected actors and primary drivers of the corruption, violence, and chaos around illegal drug markets. The control of psychoactive substances in a rational and efficient way must be centered on people and their needs, and on a repressive approach against criminal elites who benefit from the illegal drug markets’ proceeds, and have access to high-level networks, financial and legal support as needed. Only responsible legal regulation of currently prohibited drugs, with careful implementation, has the potential to disrupt criminal organizations and deprive them of their most lucrative sources of income. The report contains research on the prerequisites for a successful transition towards the reform of the outdated ideology-based international drug control regime, and provides cutting-edge recommendations on how to ensure that international criminal organizations are effectively disempowered by the transition towards a legally regulated drug market under the control of governments.
Topic:
Crime, Health, War on Drugs, Drugs, Public Health, and Medicine
Political Geography:
Global Focus

2. Classification of Psychoactive Substances: When Science Was Left Behind

Author:
Global Commission On Drug Policy
Publication Date:
01-2019
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Global Commission On Drug Policy
Abstract:
In Classification of Drugs: when science was left behind, the Global Commission on Drug Policy explains how the biased historical classification of psychoactive substances has contributed to the "world drug problem". It is the first-ever comprehensive report providing a political reading of the current evaluation and classification, or "scheduling" of drugs according to their harms. Psychoactive substances should be classified with regard to their potential for dependence and other harms. This is not the case today, where some substances are legally available because they are considered beneficial (medicines) or culturally important (alcohol), while others are seen as destructive, and are strictly prohibited. The classification of drugs is at the core of the international drug control system. As such, governments must ensure that such a classification is pragmatic and based on science and evidence, makes clear the benefits and harms of drugs, and allows for responsible legal regulatory models to control drugs.
Topic:
Health, War on Drugs, Drugs, Alcohol, Public Health, and Medicine
Political Geography:
Global Focus

3. Regulation: The Responsible Control of Drugs

Author:
Global Commission On Drug Policy
Publication Date:
03-2018
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Global Commission On Drug Policy
Abstract:
This new report provides a practical roadmap that tackles the real implications and recognizes the difficulties of transitioning from illegal to legally regulated drug markets. It offers concrete answers regarding the organizational capacity of state institutions to regulate and control a legal market of potentially dangerous products. It highlights the challenges facing impoverished populations that constitute the “working class” of the illegal drug markets. It offers possible ways forward to deal with the risks inherent to the resilience of organized crime. Finally, this report calls for a reform of the prohibition-based international drug control system, which is compromising a universal and holistic approach to the “drug problem.”
Topic:
Crime, Health, War on Drugs, Drugs, and Public Health
Political Geography:
Global Focus

4. The World Drug PERCEPTION Problem: Countering Prejudices About People Who Use Drugs

Author:
Global Commission On Drug Policy
Publication Date:
11-2017
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Global Commission On Drug Policy
Abstract:
Drug policy reforms have been difficult to design, legislate or implement because current policies and responses are often based on perceptions and passionate beliefs, and what should be factual discussions leading to effective policies are frequently treated as moral debates. The present report aims to analyze the most common perceptions and fears, contrast them with available evidence on drugs and the people who use them, and provides recommendations on changes that must be enacted to support reforms toward more effective drug policies.
Topic:
Crime, Health, War on Drugs, Drugs, Public Health, and Criminology
Political Geography:
Global Focus

5. Advancing Drug Policy Reform: a new approach to decriminalization

Author:
Global Commission On Drug Policy
Publication Date:
07-2016
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Global Commission On Drug Policy
Abstract:
Building on current partial decriminalization models that have helped to achieve more effective drug policies and positive outcomes, with a greater emphasis on justice, dignity and human rights, this report advocates ending all penalties – both civil and criminal – on people who use drugs. Detailing the destructive and harmful consequences of punitive drug policies and the need to reconsider them, the report calls for the implementation of alternatives to punishment for all low-level, non-violent actors in the drug trade, and to consider market regulation as the next logical step.
Topic:
Health, War on Drugs, Drugs, Public Health, and Criminology
Political Geography:
Global Focus

6. The Negative Impact of Drug Control on Public Health: the global crisis of avoidable pain

Author:
Global Commission On Drug Policy
Publication Date:
10-2015
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Global Commission On Drug Policy
Abstract:
Ninety-two percent of the world’s supply of morphine is consumed by just 17 percent of the global population, with consumption primarily concentrated in the global north and 75 percent of the world’s population does not have access to any pain relieving drugs. The reasons for this have little to do with issues of cost or scarcity of supplies- and everything to do with with the prohibition and repressive stand the world has taken on drugs. This Global Commission report explores the current crisis related to the lack of access to controlled medicines and makes concrete policy recommendations to Member States and UN agencies on ways to improve these conditions. This report is available in English, Spanish, Russian, French and Arabic.
Topic:
Health, War on Drugs, Drugs, Public Health, and Medicine
Political Geography:
Global Focus

7. The Negative Impact of the War on Drugs on Public Health: The Hidden Hepatitis C Epidemic

Author:
Global Commission On Drug Policy
Publication Date:
05-2013
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Global Commission On Drug Policy
Abstract:
The hepatitis C epidemic fueled by the “war on drugs” is sweeping amongst injecting drug users around the world, yet continues to be largely ignored. Access to preventive services is far too low and diagnosis and treatment are too expensive and inaccessible for most people in need. The report provides an overview of the hepatitis C virus, while exploring how the ‘war on drugs’ and repressive drug policies are failing to drive transmission down. Hepatitis C is one of the harms caused by repressive drug policies, yet it s both preventable and curable when public health is the focus.
Topic:
Health, War on Drugs, Infectious Diseases, Drugs, and Public Health
Political Geography:
Global Focus

8. The War on Drugs and HIV/AIDS: How the Criminalization of Drug Use Fuels the Global Pandemic

Author:
Global Commission On Drug Policy
Publication Date:
06-2012
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Global Commission On Drug Policy
Abstract:
The global “war on drugs” is driving the HIV/AIDS pandemic among people who use drugs, although research has shown that repressive law enforcement forces users away from public health services and into hidden environments where HIV risk becomes markedly elevated. An assessments of the impacts concluded that many nations and international organizations tasked with reducing the drug problem have actually contributed to a worsening of community health and safety. The time for leadership is now.
Topic:
HIV/AIDS, Health, War on Drugs, and Drugs
Political Geography:
Global Focus