The War Against Drugs and the Interests of Governments

Abstract

In the introduction to the World Drug Report 2000 of the Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention (ODCCP, 2001), the organization’s Director at the time wrote that “the psychology of despair has gripped the minds of a generation”. A series of facts and figures followed, intended to support the idea that substantial progress has been made in the fight against drug production and drug trafficking. He further notes that: “The end of the Cold War and the emergence of real processes for peace in a number of hitherto insoluble conflicts have softened these tensions within the international system; making cooperation a more practical enterprise” (ODCCP, 2001: 4). We will see that in fact the end of the Cold War triggered new local conflicts and fostered the emergence of pseudo-states within which political corruption became institutionalised. The fight against the drug trade has also been complicated by the economic and geopolitical interests of states, particularly rich countries that establish themselves as leaders in the war against drugs and are inclined to be indulgent with their allies or clients.