GLOBAL
TRENDS
LESSONS FROM VIENNA
Martin Jelsma – Transnational
Institute
−ABSTRACT−
To break the current impasse political alliances
have to be constructed. No country can withstand the
The main point always brought forward at the
multilateral level from Latin American side, is ‘co-responsibility’ interpreted
as more money for Alternative Development from the developed countries,
critique on the US unilateral certification mechanism, demanding more attention
to the demand side, money laundering, chemical precursors and synthetic drugs.
In principle these are all valid points, since the drug control system has long
been biased placing the burden on cultivation in Southern countries. And
clearly the lobby on these issues from countries like
The difficulty is how this North-South divide has
affected the other divide, between tolerance and pragmatism. The Southern voice
is rooted in a plea for funding combined with the accusation of hypocrisy.
Basically arguing that Northern countries should not only compensate them for
the income losses –for farmers and the national economy- but also should apply
similar levels of repression to the part of the problem they are responsible
for (demand, money laundering, precursors). Since the South feels indeed unduly
pressured to not only extradite major traffickers, but also send their military
to fight farmers and destroy livelihoods, they request the North not only to
put controls on banks and chemical industry, but also to put their consumers in
prison. In fact, Southern countries have aligned themselves at the UN level
largely on the side of ‘zero tolerance’. Any leniency in terms of Harm
Reduction or cannabis decriminalisation in European
countries or Canada, is fiercely attacked from the side of African, Asian and
also Latin American countries.
This perverted interpretation of so called
‘co-responsibility’ and ‘balanced approach’ has to be overcome. Alliances have
to be constructed rooted in pragmatic approaches and in solidarity with the
victims of this War on Drugs on both sides of the spectrum, be they in the
North or in the South, consumers or producers. The concepts of
‘co-responsibility’ and a ‘balanced approach’ between demand and supply sides
have to be redefined. If countries here in Latin America want to challenge the
War on Drugs forced upon them, if they want more leeway to negotiate with
farmers, if they want to end forced eradication, they will need to build a
bridge with those countries in the North experimenting with less repressive
approaches, countries like Canada, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Portugal, etc.
Only if such a coalition of like-minded countries could be brought together,
and act in a coordinated manner to explore more pragmatica
drug policies for both the demand and the supply sides, the UN level might
become a useful forum. Only then, a stronger political alliance can enforce a
more open-minded debate about current anti-drug strategies and challenge the
The inclusion of the drugs issue in the agenda of
the World Social Forum process can play an important role in redefining the
concept of co-responsibility, and defining a common agenda for such a
like-minded coalition. By bringing together people from around the world and
from the different ends of the spectrum, and by making linkages between drug
policies and other social issues, like human, social and cultural rights, marginalisation and exclusion, the importance of survival
economies, the impacts of neoliberal globalisation, conflict resolution and prevention, etc.
Finally, an worldwide alliance of this nature can help to build pressure to
push for the mentioned priority issues at the UN level, call for an an independent global evaluation of the current drug
control system and put forward recommendations for a more just, more effective
and more humane drug policy.
Foro Social Mundial Temático - Cartagena/Colombia – 16-20 June
2003
Martin Jelsma – 20/6/2003
www.tni.org/drugs