IDPC Magazine 3 - Drug control and development: Making a positive choice

Attempts at drug control can be expensive and counterproductive, the ‘unintended consequences’ of poor drug policies have disrupted efforts to improve living standards, security situations, anti-corruption drives – this is an endless list.

Governments can make positive choices about drug policy that don’t have the same negative impacts. In today’s global economic crisis, countries that face the challenge of meeting the Millennium Development Goals can scarcely afford to spend their limited resources unwisely. Instead, governments can take positive decisions about drug control that take into account a number of developmental issues.

This new edition of the IDPC Magazine, produced in collaboration with Talking Drugs, focuses on each Millennium Development Goal to illustrate, through testimonies and lived experiences, the severe negative consequences of drug control on development efforts both in developing and developed countries. In this Magazine, we conclude that drug policy choices can make a significant difference on the development agenda at the national, regional and international level.