Drugs and Development Policies: a discussion with the Global Commission on Drug Policy

Hosted by the LSE School of Public Policy and the Global Commission on Drug Policy

In the last decade, the negative consequences of the international drug control regime based on repression and coercion have increasingly become visible barriers to sustainable development. Despite important reforms and paradigm changes in certain countries and regions, drug policies still pose serious challenges to the international development objectives.

These consequences range from negative outcomes in control of infectious diseases, in access to controlled pain relief, in over incarceration and disproportionality of sentencing targeting certain populations, to breaches in the rule of law as drug laws are not complied with. These consequences are visible and dire at all levels of governance, and affect the most marginalized populations first.

What can be done to mitigate the negative consequences of drug policies on development, and what reforms are suggested? This high-level discussion will explore the experiences of four former heads of state or government, from four regions in the world, to discuss the medium and long-term solutions to the harms created by current drug control policies.   

Speakers:

• Juan Manuel Santos Calderón is the former President of the Republic of Colombia, serving two terms, from 2010 to 2018.
• Helen Clark is a global leader on sustainable development, gender equality and international co-operation. She served three successive terms as Prime Minister of New Zealand between 1999 and 2008. She then became the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Administrator for two terms from 2009 to 2017.
• Ruth Dreifuss was elected Federal Councillor in 1993 by the Federal Assembly, and was re-elected twice. From 1993 to her resignation in 2002, she was Head of the Federal Department of Home Affairs, in charge of public health and social insurance. During the year 1999, Ruth Dreifuss was President of the Swiss Confederation.
• Kgalema Motlanthe was elected President of the Republic of South Africa by the Parliament in September 2008, a position he held until 9 May 2009.

See here for more details.