New Approaches to Drug Policies [recurso electrónico] : a Time for Change

The US-led war on drugs has failed: drugs remain purer, cheaper and more readily available than ever. Extreme levels of violence have also grown as drug traffickers and organized criminals compete for control of territory. This book points towards a number of crucial challenges, policy solutions and alternatives to the current drug strategies. Front Matter....Pages i-xvii Introduction....Pages 1-13 Front Matter....Pages 15-15 The Drug War’s Damaging Impact on Mexico and Its Neighbors....Pages 17-34 Trends in Drug Trafficking and Organized Crime in Brazil....Pages 35-57 The War on Drugs in Colombia: A History of Failure....Pages 58-72 Understated Yet Turbulent: Narcotics Trafficking and the Criminalization of Guinea-Bissau....Pages 73-88 Front Matter....Pages 89-89 Drug Trafficking and the Street: An Anthropological View....Pages 91-101 Delinquency and Drug Use in the US....Pages 102-120 The Gang-Drug Nexus: Violence, FBI Safe Streets Task Force....Pages 121-136 A Resounding Success or a Disastrous Failure: Re-examining the Interpretation of Evidence on the Portuguese Decriminalization of Illicit Drugs....Pages 137-162 Front Matter....Pages 163-163 Drug Use Among American Adolescents: An Examination of Prevention and Intervention Programs....Pages 165-176 The Legalization Debate: Mapping Change and Trends in the United States....Pages 177-193 A Change in the Approach to the Drug Problem in the Americas....Pages 194-212 Enough Is Enough: The Need for Prison Reform in the US....Pages 213-228 The “War on Drugs”: A Failed Paradigm....Pages 229-249 Back Matter....Pages 251-255 "The war on drugs led by the United States has failed: drugs remain purer, cheaper and more readily available than when the war on drugs began in 1971. The drug war has also resulted in extreme levels of violence as drug traffickers and organized criminals compete for control of territory. Prohibitionist policies have destroyed the lives of millions of people as prisons warehouse drug offenders. This important volume represents an effort to map new approaches to drug policies. The contributors write from various disciplinary backgrounds and provide crucial insights on a wide-range of topics, including the gang-drug nexus, delinquency, legalization, trafficking, decriminalization, intervention programs and prison reform. The volume also provides a number of policy solutions and alternatives to the current drug strategies"-- Provided by publisher