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'Der Konsum illegaler Drogen ist in Italien erst seit einigen Jahrzehnten zu einem öffentlichen Problem geworden. Erst in den 1990er Jahren sind drei Typen von Konsumenten auf der Drogenszene erschienen: Heroinkonsumenten (überwiegend männliche Erwachsene), Konsumenten und Konsumentinnen von Ecstasy (überwiegend Jüngere beiderlei Geschlechts) und Kokainkonsumenten (überwiegend sozial gut integrierte junge Erwachsene). Cannabis ist allerdings auch bei diesen Gruppen die am häufigsten konsumierte Droge. Auf der Ebene der Gesetzgebung beobachtet man eine Bewegung des Ausbalancierens zwischen einer sozial- bzw. gesundheitspolitischen und einer prohitionistischen Position, wobei letztere im letzten Jahrzehnt die Oberhand gewinnt. Die Mitte-Links-Regierung hatte über die Initiative einiger ihrer Mitglieder versucht, eine weniger punitive Politik zu formulieren, die allerdings über eine Koalition aus verschiedenen politischen Lagern nur schwer in bedeutende Veränderungen der aktuellen Drogenpolitik umzusetzen war.' (Autorenreferat)

Since April 2007, health insurance companies in Germany have been entitled to negotiate drug discount contracts (DDCs) with pharmaceutical manufacturers for particular drugs. DDCs commit pharmacists to dispense the drug made by this manufacturer. The aim of this study was to examine how DDCs are implemented in pharmacy routines and what implications DDCs have for the everday drug supply. Methods: A standardized questionnaire on DDCs and their impact on the drug supply was developed according to the previous literature, piloted and distributed to pharmacies in Baden-Württemberg. Results: Eight hundred four pharmacists and pharmaceutical assistants participated in the study. The implementation of DDCs implies significant extra work for pharmacists, particulary the additional need for customer counseling and education (99.1%), additional logistical requirements and more complex data processing needs. Patients are reported to get confused (97%) and angry (96.9%) about non-transparent drug substitutions, and medication errors occur (60.1%). Conclusion: DDCs, besides having implications for prescibers and patients, also have a substantial impact on pharmacists and pharmacies. Adverse effects on the drug supply and medication safety are possible or likely.

"Supply restricting anti-drug policy is inefficient from an economic point of view, but is nevertheless widely used. This paper explains this phenomenon as individually rational behavior for local government. Because supply restrictions give addicts an incentive to migrate it has an external effect. This effect makes a policy of supply restrictions individually rational but leads to socially wasteful competition between local governments in a federal system." (author's abstract)

"Für Mexiko hat die Metapher vom 'War on Drugs' ihre martialische Symbolik längst zugunsten höchst realer Gewaltszenarien eingebüßt. In den Jahren 2006 und 2007 sind dort mehr als 5.000 Menschen im Zusammenhang mit dem illegalen Drogengeschäft und den staatlichen Maßnahmen zu dessen Bekämpfung getötet bzw. ermordet worden. US-Präsident Bush will die drogenpolitische Offensive im Nachbarland mit einem US-Dollar 1,4 Mrd. teuren Hilfspaket unterstützen, das derzeit im Kongress beraten wird. Begünstigt durch die geographische Nähe fungiert Mexiko seit nahezu zwei Jahrzehnten als wichtigster Versorger des US-amerikanischen Drogenmarkts. Über die Nordgrenze werden nicht nur die in Mexiko selbst erzeugten Rauschmittel Marihuana, Heroin und Methamphetamin geschmuggelt, das Land dient auch dem Transit von rund 90% des in den USA konsumierten Kokain. Die durch die Position an der strategischen Schnittstelle des Kokainhandels bedingten riesigen Einnahmen haben zur Entstehung mächtiger kriminellerOrganisationen - sogenannter Kartelle - geführt, die ihre Geschäftsinteressen mit einer Rücksichtslosigkeit verfolgen, die kolumbianische Vorbilder in den Schatten stellt. Wichtigster interner Erklärungsfaktor der sinistren 'Erfolgsstory' der Drogenkartelle ist die endemische Korruption. Ohne Kollaborateure und Protektoren in Politik, Justiz und Polizei hätten die Drogensyndikate ihre heutige Bedeutung und Schlagkraft nicht erreichen können. Korruption hat die Kartelle stark gemacht, und diese Stärke erschwert jetzt wiederum eine wirkungsvolle Bekämpfung der Korruption. Präsident Calderón setzt beim Vorgehen gegen die Drogenkartelle primär auf das Militär. Das mag zur Deeskalation der Gewalt in zahlreichen Brennpunkten des Drogenhandels führen, ist jedoch im Hinblick auf die wesentlichen Triebkräfte des Drogengeschäfts nicht zielführend. Langfristige Erfolge gegen das organisierte Verbrechen können nur über den Weg der institutionellen Stärkung von Justiz und Polizei erreicht werden. Entsprechende Ankündigungen Calderóns werden bislang nicht durch konkrete innovative Schritte gestützt. Das Hilfspaket der USA (Mérida Initiative) entspricht der Logik der Calderón'schen Antidrogenstrategie und ist von daher kaum geeignet, mehr als kurzfristige und oberflächliche Effekte zu erzielen." (Autorenreferat)

People who use drugs have been participating in high level drug policy settings for decades, but little critical work has been done to interrogate 'drug user representation' in these highly politicised contexts. The aim of this thesis was to open up this terrain and make a scholarly contribution to understandings of both the theoretical underpinnings and the practices of 'drug user representation' in these policy settings. Having done decades of 'drug user representation' in these same settings, this thesis provided a unique opportunity for me to critically interrogate the practices involved, their underlying assumptions and the effects of these 'ways of doing things' for 'drug user representation'. This research draws on a range of critical perspectives informed by the "ontological turn" including scholars working across disciplines in poststructuralism, critical feminism, Science & Technology Studies (STS) and posthumanism approaches. A qualitative study design was employed to examine 'drug user representation' in high level policy settings (such as the United Nations, Commission on Narcotic Drugs) drawing on documentary sources and semi-structured interviews (n=42) with participants engaged in and involved with 'drug user representation' within Australia and internationally. The ontopolitical orientation of the research allowed for a critical focus on questions of representation, performativity, power, and resistances underpinned by a reflexive approach consistent with this orientation. This research shows how, alongside increasing calls for greater involvement of people who use drugs in drug policy processes, dominant discourses and other drug policy practices are constantly working to enact drug user representatives as illegitimate political subjects, even before they get to the 'policy table'. Despite these negative subjectification, discursive and material effects for 'drug user representation', the realities being produced through drug policy practices are not pre-determined and singular but ...

Drug Smugglers on Drug Smuggling examines the organizational structures of drug smuggling from Colombia to the US. Career drug smugglers describe a series of often disconnected networks that enable smugglers to best organize their business in a way that will minimize the risks of apprhension and maximize profits

Despite the controversial nature of illicit drug treatment, there is a relative lack of research on policy formation in this area. This paper draws on qualitative interviews with service providers and analysis of policy documents, conducted for an Australian National Health and Medical Research Council funded project entitled `Comparing the role of takeaways in methadone maintenance treatment in New South Wales and Victoria', to examine the formation and implementation of drug treatment policy. In particular, it considers two forces widely acknowledged to be important to drug treatment, and often argued to be antithetical to each other: community values and scientific evidence. Separation of the `social' and the `scientific' in treatment is a much-used but conceptually limited distinction. Two alternatives to evidence-based policy are proposed. The first, values-based policy, is increasingly important to critical discussions of social policy and could potentially add much to debates around drug treatment policy. The second alternative is suggested by social studies of science (STS), in particular feminist STS.

Cultural diversity in India has nurtured the use of mind-altering substances over centuries, without causing any great alarm about drug abuse. This paper, using research conducted by the authors & other secondary data, attempts to present sociocultural-religious, functional patterns of drug use in the country, & examines some of the factors responsible for the drastic changes that have occurred since the 1980s. Specifically, it points out that the Narcotics Drugs & Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, 1985, took the responsibility of drug abuse control away from the community to the near-defunct legal establishment. By criminalizing socio-religious-cultural-recreational use of opium & cannabis, it has promoted the proliferation of alcohol, heroin, & other more harmful pharmaceutical drugs. It has given a new lease on life to organized crime syndicates. Furthermore, denial of access to low cost, accessible health care at the hands of traditional healers is an unintended consequence needing immediate rectification. Suggested here are policy recommendations to the UN bodies, their member states, & to policymakers in India in particular. 1 Photograph, 17 References. Adapted from the source document.