Citizenship or repression? Coca, eradication and development in the Andes

For over two decades the US has funded repressive forced coca eradication in Peru, Colombia and Bolivia to reduce the illegal cocaine trade. These policies have never met their stated goals and have generated violence and poverty. In 2006 Bolivia definitively broke with the US anti-narcotics model, replacing the militarized eradication of coca crops with a community-based coca control strategy. The program substantially reduced the coca crop while simultaneously respecting human rights and allowing farmers to diversify their livelihoods. This article outlines the elements of the Bolivian initiative that ensure its continued successful functioning. It explores to what extent this model can be translated to other Andean contexts

Refocusing metrics: can the sustainable development goals help break the ‘metrics trap’ and modernise international drug control policy?

Purpose – This article aims to examine the extent to which the dominant metrics currentlyused to measure the success of the UN based global drug prohibition regime are in manyways inadequate and consequently contribute to systemic inertia. Within this context, it seeksto explore the potential of explicitly linking drug policy to the recently launched SustainableDevelopment Agenda and the associated Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to initiatea change in approach.Design/methodology/approach – Framing the topic in terms of International Relations (IR)and regime analysis, prominent examples of where current metrics are imprecise (therelationship between production and seizures), misconceived (drug use) and missing (arange of drug and drug policy related harms) are explored. Attention is then given to anexamination of international development as a model for measuring drug control outcomes,including a discussion of the SDGs in general and the intersection between drug policyinterventions and several Goals in particular.Findings - While aware of the complexity of the issue area, the article finds that there areconsiderable shortcomings in the way international drug policy outcomes are currentlyassessed. Although methodological problems are likely to persist, linking drug policy with theSDGs and their associated metrics offers the potential to help to shift the focus ofinternational policy in a manner that would benefit not only UN system-wide coherence onthe issue, but also assist in the achievement of the regime’s own overarching goal; tosafeguard the ‘health and welfare’ of humankind.Practical implications – With the next high-level review of international drug policy due to takeplace in 2019, the article offers policy makers with a way to begin to refocus drug policymetrics, and subsequently review outcomes, in line with the UN system-wide SustainableDevelopment Agenda.Originality – As an emerging domain of inquiry, the article not only explores a hitherto largelyunexplored – yet increasingly important – facet of UN level policy evaluation, formulation andimplementation, but also helps to fill a gap in the IR literature on regime dynamics

Exploring corruption in fisheries

This paper explores corruption in global fisheries. While reducing corruption is critical for the effective management of the fisheries sector and the fulfilment of the UN’s sustainable development goals (SDGs, and SDGs14 and 16 in particular), to do so, it is necessary to first have a systematic and comprehensive understanding of what corruption is and how it is manifested in the sector. There is literature on illegal, unregulated and unreported (IUU) fishing, but not much on corruption. The paper proposes an analytical framework and applies it with six revelatory cases to improve the conceptual clarity of corruption in fisheries. Specific corruption problems found in licensing, negotiating access agreements, lax enforcement, extortion, political corruption, money laundering and tax manipulation, human trafficking etc. can therefore be better identified through this analysis, which lays a base for systematic responses to tackling corruption in fisheries and accordingly furthering the sustainable development of the sector

The effects of dictatorship on health: the case of Turkmenistan

BACKGROUND: There is a health crisis in Turkmenistan similar to, but more severe than, in other Central Asian countries. This paper asks whether the health crisis in Turkmenistan is attributable to the consequences of the dictatorship under president Niyazov, who died in 2006. METHODS: The basis for this paper was a series of semi-structured in-depth interviews with key informants complemented by an iterative search of internet sites, initially published as a report in April 2005, and subsequently updated with feedback on the report as well as a comprehensive search of secondary information sources and databases. RESULTS: This paper describes in depth three areas in which the dictatorship in Turkmenistan had a negative impact on population health: the regime's policy of secrecy and denial, which sees the "solution" to health care problems in concealment rather than prevention; its complicity in the trafficking of drugs from Afghanistan; and the neglect of its health care system. CONCLUSION: The paper concludes that dictatorship has contributed to the health crisis facing Turkmenistan. One of the first tests of the new regime will be whether it can address this crisis

Illegal Fishing and Fisheries Crime as a Transnational Organized Crime in Indonesia

Illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing is increasingly drawing international attention and coastal states strengthen their efforts to address it as a matter of priority due to its severe implications for food, economic, environmental and social security. As the largest archipelagic country in the world, this is especially problematic for Indonesia. In this already complex geographical and security environment, the authors test the hypothesis that IUU fishing and fisheries crime(s) classify as transnational organized criminal activities. The article argues that IUU fishing is much more than simply a fisheries management issue, since it goes hand in hand with fisheries crime. As a result, although the two concepts are quite distinct, they are so closely interlinked and interrelated throughout the entire value chain of marine fisheries, that they can only be managed effectively collectively by understanding them both within the framework of transnational organized crime. To make this argument, the research utilizes qualitative and quantitative data collected from approximately two thousand trafficked fishers, rescued in 2015 from slavery conditions while stranded in two remote Indonesian locations: Benjina on Aru island and on Ambon island. The article’s findings also unveil new trends relating to the inner workings of the illegal fishing industry, in four different, yet interlinked categories: recruitment patterns and target groups; document forgery; forced labor and abuse; and fisheries violations. The paper concludes by confirming the hypothesis and highlights that IUU fishing provides the ideal (illegal) environment for fisheries crimes and other forms of transnational organized crimes to flourish

Novel psychoactive substance consumption is more represented in bipolar disorder than in psychotic disorders : A multicenter-observational study

© 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Acciavatti, T, Lupi, M, Santacroce, R, et al. Novel psychoactive substance consumption is more represented in bipolar disorder than in psychotic disorders: A multicenter‐observational study. Hum Psychopharmacol Clin Exp. 2017; 32:e2578. which has been published in final form at https://doi.org/10.1002/hup.2578. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Use of Self-Archived Versions.OBJECTIVE: Comorbidities between psychiatric diseases and use of traditional substances of abuse are common. Nevertheless, there are few data regarding the use of novel psychoactive substances (NPS) among psychiatric patients. Aim of this multicentre survey is to investigate the consumption of a number of psychoactive substances in a young psychiatric sample. METHODS: Between December 2013 and September 2015, a questionnaire was administered in 10 Italian psychiatric care facilities to a sample of 671 patients, aged 18-26 (mean age 22.24; SD 2.87). RESULTS: About 8.2% of the sample declared to have used NPS at least once, and 2.2% had consumed NPS in the previous 3 months. The three psychiatric diagnoses most frequently associated with NPS use were bipolar disorder (23.1%), personality disorders (11.8%), and schizophrenia and related disorders (11.6%). In univariate regression analysis, bipolar disorder was positively associated with NPS consumption, an association that did not reach statistical significance in the multivariate analysis. CONCLUSIONS: The use of NPS in a young psychiatric population appears to be frequent, and probably still underestimated. Bipolar disorder shows an association with NPS use. Careful and constant monitoring and an accurate evaluation of possible clinical effects related to NPS use are necessary.Peer reviewedFinal Accepted Versio

Home Manufacture of Drugs: An Online Investigation and a Toxicological Reality Check of Online Discussions on Drug Chemistry

Emerging trends in market dynamics and the use of new psychoactive substances are both a public health concern and a complex regulatory issue. One novel area of investigation is the availability of homemade opioids, amphetamines and dissociatives, and the potential fueling of interest in clandestine home manufacture of drugs via the Internet. We illustrate here how online communal folk pharmacology of homemade drugs on drug website forums may actually inform home manufacture practices or contribute to the reduction of harms associated with this practice. Discrepancies between online information around purification and making homemade drugs safer, and the synthesis of the same substances in a proper laboratory environment, exist. Moderation and shutdown of synthesis queries and discussions online are grounded in drug websites adhering to harm-reduction principles by facilitating discussions around purification of homemade drugs only. Drug discussion forums should consider reevaluating their policies on chemistry discussions in aiming to reach people who cannot or will not refrain from cooking their own drugs with credible information that may contribute to reductions in the harms associated with this practice. © 2017 Taylor & Francis Group, LL

Sale of Visas: a Smuggler's Final Song?

Is there a way of eliminating human smuggling? We set up a model to simultaneously determine the provision of human smuggling services and the demand from would-be migrants. A visa-selling policy may be successful in eliminating smugglers by eroding their profits, but it also increases immigration. In contrast, repression decreases migration but fuels cartelized smugglers. To overcome this trade-off we show that legalization through selling visas in combination with repression can be used to weaken human smuggling while controlling migration flows. Our results highlight the complementarities between repression and selling visas, and call into question current policies