Drug Policy Project
This grant is to support the continuation of the IPS Drug Policy Project, which works on the nexus between domestic politics and international drug policy with an emphasis on mitigating or reversing current US supply reduction policies in places like Colombia, Afghanistan, Mexico and Bolivia.
The goals of this project for 2009-2010 are to:
- Indentify and assist like-minded counterparts in the US government to work proactively with the new administration in articulating a new drug control strategy;
- De-escalate current militarized US counternarcotics policies in Colombia, Mexico, Afghanistan and other parts of the world;
- Define new metrics for "success" away from the old measurements of hectares fumigated, kilos interdicted, or violators apprehended toward more humane and sustainable outcomes that genuinely advance public health and safety;
- Continue to defend and promote the traditional indigenous right to use coca and assist in the rescheduling of the coca leaf; and,
- Propagate these new ideas through op-eds, videos, and blogs and to contribute to international working groups such as IDPC and FMPCDI.