The Politics of Drugs: From Production to Consumption

We are living in a drug-saturated world. An estimated 185 million people, or 3.1 per cent of the world's population, consume illicit drugs, and the figures have risen dramatically over the last four decades. There is enormous divergence between countries, societies and individuals as to how best to respond to this dramatic increase. This book examines many of these contesting perceptions and the political and ideological struggles that underpin them.

At the one extreme, the US-declared "war on drugs" has mirrored its war on terrorism in its heavy-handedness. At the other extreme are those who argue for the complete (re)legalisation of all drugs. Peadar King examines the factors that drive demand and consumption and concludes that both have much in common. He takes the perspective of the people on the ground working with drugs, on both the production and consumption side.

The book concludes that there are no easy answers. Irrespective of ones own response and ideology, there is general recognition that the centuries-old desire for psychoactive substances, whether as an act of desperation or celebration, will always remain part of the human condition and all the military might in the world will not change that.