TNI Debate Paper Number 4 - A Failed Balance - Alternative Development and Eradication
1 January 2002
TNI Drugs & Conflict Debate Paper 4, March 2002 - Alternative Development programmes aim at encouraging peasants to switch from growing illicit drugs-related crops. The record of success, however, is a sorry one. Decades of efforts to reduce global drug supply using a mix of developmental and repressive means, have failed. TNI argues for a re-conceptualisation of the strategy - de-linking alternative development from the threat of forced eradication and law enforcement, and guaranteeing peasants the support required for a sustainable alternative future. It is high time that Harm Reduction principles be applied to the production side of the equation.