The Global Drug Prohibition Regime: Half a Century of Failed Policymaking?

In collaboration with the Open Society Foundations’ Global Drug Policy Program, the CEU School of Public Policy is organizing a series of debates devoted to complex and interdisciplinary issues raised by illicit drugs and global and national policy responses to drugs. The next event, titled “The Global Drug Prohibition Regime: Half a Century of Failed Policymaking?,” will be held on April 11.

As the world moves toward an international discussion on drug policy at the United Nations General Assembly in 2016, the conversation around prohibition has taken an increasingly skeptical tone. We are routinely bombarded with dismal news of drug-related violence in many countries and the continuous development of new fronts in the so-called “war on drugs.” Elsewhere, health epidemics thrive and millions of citizens suffer arrest and incarceration.

How much of this is a direct result of the prohibition regime? Would alternative models make the situation any better? And what are the successes to the current approach? These and other topics will be discussed at the third Global Drug Policy Debate organized at SPP, by three internationally renowned experts who will discuss the current international drug prohibition regime and whether it represents a failed policy.