With debates surrounding the decriminalisation of certain illegal drugs raging in many countries around the world, this new book is a timely and sober reflection on one of the biggest social problems facing the world at large. Of interest not only to economists, but also to criminologists and those involved in policy-making, The Economics of Illega
Drugs, Crime and Public Health provides an accessible but critical discussion of recent policy on illicit drugs. Using a comparative approach - centred on the UK, but with insights and complementary data gathered from the USA and other countries - it argues that problematic drug use can only be understood in the social context in which it takes place.
"This comprehensive volume makes a substantive and unique contribution to understanding the drug trade at the national, regional, and global levels. Bringing together respected scholars and analysts from diverse disciplines and from Latin America, Europe, and the United States, it is the most important single volume in the field this decade."--Michael Gold-Biss, American University Stemming from an international conference held in Utrecht, this collection encompasses the political, economic, social, and legal aspects of the illegal drug industry. The introduction provides an overview of the political economy of the drug industry followed by discussions of the impact of the drug industry on the Latin American source countries; drug trafficking and money laundering; the war on drugs, transnational crime, and international security; and current options for intervention and control. Contents Part I. Introduction 1. The Political Economy of the Drug Industry: Its Structure and Functioning, by Menno Vellinga Part II. The Drug Industry: Its Impact on Economy, Politics, and Society and the Drug Control Effort in Source Countries 2. Has Bolivia Won the War? Lessons from Plan Dignidad, by Eduardo A. Gamarra 3. Questionable Alliances in the War on Drugs: Peru and the United States, by Mariano Valderrama and Hugo Cabieses 4. Illegal Drugs in Colombia: From Illegal Economic Boom to Social Crisis, by Francisco E. Thoumi 5. Mexico: Drugs and Politics, by Luis Astorga 6. The Political Economy of Drugs in the Caribbean: Problems without Passports, by Ivelaw L. Griffith Part III. Trafficking and Money Laundering 7. The Political Economy of Drug Smuggling, by Peter Reuter 8. Post-Fordist Cocaine: Labor and Business Relations among Colombian Dealers, by Damián Zaitch 9. Follow the Money: Anti-Money-Laundering Policies and Financial Investigations, by Ernesto Savona Part IV. The Drug Industry and the War on Drugs 10. Perversely Harmful Effects of Counter-Narcotics Policy in the Andes, by Rensselaer Lee 11. Diverging Trends in Global Drug Policy, by Martin Jelsma 12. Multilateral Drug Control, by Sandeep Chawla 13. The European Union and Drug Control: Issues and Trends, by Tim Boekhout van Solinge Part V. Drugs, Transnational Crime, and International Security 14. Globalization and Transnational Organized Crime: The Russian Mafia in Latin America and the Caribbean, by Bruce Michael Bagley 15. The War against Drugs and the Interests of Governments, by Alain Labrousse 16. Drugs and Transnational Organized Crime: Conceptualization and Solutions, by Ybo Buruma Part VI. Conclusion 17. The Drug Industry, Its Economic, Social, and Political Effects, and the Options of Intervention and Control, by Menno Vellinga Menno Vellinga has served as professor of development geography and director of the Institute of Development Studies at Utrecht University, the Netherlands. He presently occupies the Bacardi Chair for Eminent Visiting Scholars at the Center for Latin American Studies at the University of Florida.
Offers new and cutting-edge research on the role of drugs in Iranian society and government. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.
Illicit cross-border flows, such as the smuggling of drugs, are proliferating on a global scale. This volume explores the selective nature of the state's retreat, persistence and reassertion in relation to the illicit global economy.
Economists explore the relationship between expanding international trade and the parallel growth in illicit trade, including illegal drugs, smuggling, and organized crime. As international trade has expanded dramatically in the postwar period--an expansion accelerated by the opening of China, Russia, India, and Eastern Europe--illicit international trade has grown in tandem with it. This volume uses the economist's toolkit to examine the economic, political, and social problems resulting from such illicit activities as illegal drug trade, smuggling, and organized crime. The contributors consider several aspects of the illegal drug market, including the sometimes puzzling relationships among purity, price, and risk; the effect of globalization on the heroin and cocaine markets, examined both through mathematical models and with empirical data from the U.K; the spread of khat, a psychoactive drug imported legally to the U.K. as a vegetable; and the economic effect of the "war on drugs" on producer and consumer countries. Other chapters examine the hidden financial flows of organized crime, patterns of smuggling in international trade, Iran's illicit trading activity, and the impact of mafia-like crime on foreign direct investment in Italy.
This book contains nine essays written by distinguished scholars from North America. Europe, and Asia, and provides an in-depth examination of the socio-legal developments of drug control in different countries. Important rational approaches to the formulation of drug policy are discussed. A must-read for anyone interested in the highly topical, worldwide drug problem.
