Video | ‘Drug Policies and Development: Conflict and Coexistence’, a conversation with the co-editors

The co-editors of the 12^th thematic issue of International Development Policy – Mary Chinery-Hesse, the first woman Chancellor of the University of Ghana; Khalid Tinasti, Executive Secretary of the Global Commission on Drug Policy and Julia Buxton, Professor at the University of Manchester, UK, explain the rationale behind this issue.

The 12^th thematic issue of International Development Policy explores the tension between devel­opment and drug control goals, both current and historical. The volume of fifteen articles draws on a broad spectrum of thematic issues to address the following key questions: Are prohibition and development mutually exclusive or complementa­ry international agendas? How do the harms associated with drug policy enforce­ment undermine development prospects? The diverse group of authors highlights the corrosive effects of criminalisation and prohibition – based approaches on the livelihoods and fundamental rights of those who are vulnerable, including women, children, people who count on drug cultivation and trafficking to make a living, and people who use drugs. They also address the limitations and feasibility of development – focused interventions in drug control strategies within the context of the prohibition paradigm.

Read the 15 chapters on (open access): https://doi.org/10.4000/poldev.3408

Reference of the thematic issue: Buxton, J., M. Chinery-Hesse and K. Tinasti (Eds) (2020) Drug Policies and Development: Conflict and Coexistence, thematic issue International Development Policy, 12 | 2020 (Geneva and Leiden: The Graduate Institute, Brill | Nijhoff), https://doi.org/10.4000/poldev.3408

Reference of chapter 1: Buxton J., K. Tinasti and M. Chinery-Hesse (2020) ‘Are Barriers to Sustainable Development Endogenous to Drug Control Policies?’ in J. Buxton, M. Chinery-Hesse and K. Tinasti (Eds), Drug Policies and Development: Conflict and Coexistence, International Development Policy, 12 | 2020 (Geneva and Leiden: The Graduate Institute, Brill | Nijhoff), https://doi.org/10.4000/poldev.3616