Innocent Bystanders Developing Countries and the War on Drugs

by UK, Palgrave Macmillan; Keefer, Philip; Loayza, Norman

• ISBN13: 9780821380345
• ISBN10: 0821380346
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2010-03-24
• Publisher: World Bank Publications

Summary

The drug policies of wealthy consuming countries emphasize criminalization, interdiction, and eradication. Such extreme responses to social challenges risk unintended, costly consequences. The evidence presented in this volume is that these consequences are high in the case of current drug policies, particularly for poor transit and producer countries. These costs include the deaths of thousands in the conflict between drug cartels and security forces, political instability, and the infiltration of criminal elements into governments, on the one hand; and increased narcotics use in countries that would not otherwise have been targeted by drug suppliers.Despite such costs, extreme policies could be worthwhile if their benefits were significantly higher than those of more moderate, less costly policies. The authors review the evidence on the benefits of current policies and find that they are clouded in uncertainty: eradication appears to have no permanent effect on supply; the evidence on criminalization does not exclude either the possibility that its effects on drug consumption are low, or that they are high. Uncertainty over benefits and the high costs of current policies relative to alternatives justifies greater emphasis on lower cost policies and more conscientious and better-funded efforts to assess the benefits of all policies.

Table of Contents

Foreword	p. xi
About the Editors and Authors	p. xv
Abbreviations	p. xxi
Introduction	p. 1
Drug Prohibition and Developing Countries: Uncertain Benefits, Certain Costs	p. 9
The Historical Foundations of the Narcotic Drug Control Regime	p. 61
Can Production and Trafficking of Illicit Drugs Be Reduced or Only Shifted?	p. 95
Evaluating Plan Colombia	p. 135
Evo, Pablo, Tony, Diego, and Sonny: General Equilibrium Analysis of the Market for Illegal Drugs	p. 165
Competitive Advantages in the Production and Trafficking of Coca-Cocaine and Opium-Heroin in Afghanistan and the Andean Countries	p. 195
Cocaine Production and Trafficking: What Do We Know?	p. 253
Responding to the Challenge of Afghanistan's Opium Economy: Development Lessons and Policy Implications	p. 301
Index	p. 341
Box
National Drug Control Strategy-Objective, Priorities, Pillars	p. 320
Figures
Number of Adults Incarcerated for Drug Law Violations in the United States, 1972-2002	p. 14
(a) Potential Opium Production, 1990-2007; (b)Potential Cocaine Production, 1990-2007	p. 30
(a) Retail Cocaine Price, 1990-2006; (b)Retail Opiate Price, 1990-2006	p. 32
Real Prices for Cocaine, Heroin, and Marijuana, 1975-2003	p. 33
Annual Prevalence of Marijuana, Cocaine, and Heroin Use among U.S. High School Seniors, 1975-2008	p. 33
Rate of U.S. Hospital Emergency Room Mentions for Marijuana, Cocaine, and Heroin, 1978-2002 per 100,000 Population	p. 34
(a) Cocaine Retail Price and GDP per capita; (b) Heroin Retail Price and GDP per capita, 1997-2005	p. 38
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