6th Latin American and 1st Caribbean Conference on Drug Policy

The production and use of drugs is a complex phenomenon, with multiple manifestations according to the historical moment, cultural environment, economic model, the particular circumstances of a country, the different significances assigned by subjects, as well as the actual differences between substances.  Nevertheless, it is reduced and homogenized as the “drug problem”, as if it was a uniform, unhistorical phenomenon.

In the last hundred years this issue has become a “social matter”, and with the aid of different social actors, including the State, it has been constructed as a social problem.

The drug control policies express tensions, contradictions, and conflicts about the way to regulate consumption and production. Within this framework, local and international debates on drug policy are developing.

In the Latin American context -characterized by enormous social inequality, income disparity, and poverty – these debates cannot ignore the consequences that the drug control policies have produced in the region: social isolation, a disproportionate incarceration of drug users and small dealers or “mules”, social violence, environmental damage, and violations of basic human rights.

The program of the conference includes panels on:

“Drug Policy and the right to justice”

“Advances towards the regulation of cannabis”

“Objectives for the development of sustainable and Human Rights based Drug Policy”

“Public Health and the development of harm reduction strategies in Latin America”

 The program also includes round tables on:

“UNGASS…and now what?”

“Drugs and Violence: Are there other answers?”

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