The GDPO team had another busy quarter involving a range of both existing and new projects and activities. Indeed, while the drugs and drones in Latin America project ticked away in the background, others - after many months of quiet hard work - broke the surface. Key among these was the launch of the Global Drug Policy Index (GDPI) in November. As the academic lead working with the Harm Reduction Consortium behind the initiative, the GDPO was involved in several launch events with Matt and Dave making presentations on the Index methodology at a number of forums. Key among these was Matt’s in-person presentation at the plenary opening session of the European Harm Reduction Conference in Prague, Czechia. All those involved with the Index were thrilled with the amount of media coverage received from around the world, including endorsement from Helen Clarke, Chair of the Global Commission on Drug Policy and former Prime Minister of New Zealand. Please do check out a video explaining the GDPI here. Work is ongoing to secure funding for a second iteration that builds upon this initial pilot. The GDPO was also pleased to be involved with several events relating to our new Harm Reduction Project. Moderated by Dave, Rick (Project lead) was joined by Eliza Kurcevič (Eurasian Harm Reduction Association) at an online event, ‘New Psychoactive substances in Eastern Europe and Central Asia: a qualitative study of people you use drugs and harm reduction services in eight countries.’ This focused on an ongoing collaborative project funded by the Global Challenges Research Fund. Shortly afterwards in late October Rick also hosted an online session with Damon Barrett of the University of Gothenburg. Here discussion focused on Damon’s recent book, Child Rights and Drug Control in International Law. Meanwhile, drawing on research conducted for the Observatory’s Crypto-Drug Markets project, Martin gave a virtual presentation ‘in’ Vienna for the VNGOC at the Intersessional meeting of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs. Finally, continuing with the GDPO’s mission to strengthen the interface between drug policy research and teaching at Swansea University and beyond, Dave gave a guest lecture for Rick’s postgraduate drug policy module.

In that vein, in terms of publications we were also pleased to showcase the excellent research of several Swansea University Masters students. This included blogs by Ellie Harding, ‘The disposable foot soldiers of crime’ – media, County Lines and Moral Panics,’ and Temitope Salami, ‘Proposing a Harm Reduction Framework for Youth Drug Use in Nigeria: A Research Inspired Commentary.’ At the time of publication, November 2021, both were MA candidates in Applied Criminal Justice and Criminology. Heavily involved in their supervision, Rick also co-authored (with Niamh Eastwood, Associate Member of the Drug and Alcohol Research Centre, Middlesex University) a timely piece with The Conversation titled ‘Scotland won’t prosecute personal possession of class A drugs, but outdated laws prevent deeper reforms’ And rapidly developing a reputation as a publishing machine, the GDPO’s Africa project lead Ediomo-Ubong was busy both with GDPO publications and those within the formal academic realm. Regarding the former, October saw the publication of the Policy Brief Between Prohibition and Regulation: Narrative Analysis of Cannabis Policy Debate in Africa. On the latter he published in both the International Journal of Law, Crime and Justice and Substance Use and Misuse.

While as is often the case at this time of the year, the GDPO’s public facing activities slowed a little during the Quarter, work continued behind the scenes on various long running projects.  Indeed, Matt, Dave, and the team were very busy with the Global Drug Policy Index.  In addition to finalizing the Index structure and engaging with data capture processes, this involved engagement with information sessions for Harm Reduction Consortium members and partners.  This included a YouthRise organised webinar in late September covering South Africa, Uganda, and India.  Alongside this work stream, the drugs and drones in Latin America project also continued onwards and involved several Zoom meetings and editorial sessions with the various stakeholders in Colombia, Germany, Italy, and the UK.     

In terms of GDPO publications, the Quarter was relatively productive across the range of publication formats.  August saw the publication of Christopher Hallam’s blog book review of Stephen Snelders’ excellent Drug Smuggler Nation: Narcotics and the Netherlands, 1920-1995.  Pushing forward with its mission to help develop the next generation of drug policy scholars, the following month the Observatory was pleased to showcase the research of Swansea University undergraduate Tom Crouch. Tom’s blog, Harry and the Reds: A Revisionist Examination of Washington’s Cooperation with Moscow on International Drug Control Policy (1945-1962) is based upon his final year dissertation. The culmination of considerable research over a number of months (nay years…), July also saw the publication of Christopher’s important Working Paper Heroin-Assisted Treatment and the United Nations International Drug Control Apparatus.  Finally, the GDPO was pleased to be involved in the production of a co-branded Briefing Paper with IDPC, Health Poverty Action, Transform, WOLA, and TNI.  Authored by friend of the Observatory, Benoit Gomis, Cannabis regulation: Lessons from the Illicit Tobacco explores an increasingly important aspect of the fast evolving drug policy debate and looks likely to feature as part of a side-event at the 2022 Commission on Narcotic Drugs.  

Meanwhile, members of the team were also productive with a range of other traditional academic publications.  These include Ediomo-Ubong’s ‘I cannot stop taking weed cos it makes me survive’: cannabis use, criminal sanctions and users’ experiences in Nigeria’ in Drugs: Education, Prevention and Policy, Rick’s, with Julie Hannah and Giada Girelli, ‘”Treatment in Liberty” Human Rights and Compulsory Detention for Drug Use’, Open Access in Human Rights Law Review and his review of Damon Barrett’s excellent Child Rights and Drug Control in the International Journal of Children’s Rights.  Christopher and Dave also welcomed the publication of their chapter, ‘The International Drug Control Regime: Crisis and Fragmentation’, in Annette Idler and Juan Carlos Garzón Vergara (Eds), Transforming the War on Drugs: Warriors, Victims and Vulnerable Regions, (Hurst & Company, 2021).  

It was no great surprise that the ongoing pandemic pushed back the main annual meeting of the UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND) a few weeks from its usual March date.  And as such, while typically in a state of post-Vienna recovery, April saw many in the drug policy field, including the GDPO, engage with the multilateral session in a COVID-19 induced ‘hybrid’ format.  The Observatory’s key activity at this year’s session was the co-hosting, with partner organisations the Transnational Institute (TNI) and the Interdisciplinary Centre for Cannabis Research, The University of the West Indies, Jamaica (ICCR), of an on-line side-event.  Moderated by Dave and with an audience of more than 100, ‘The Future of Cannabis in the Caribbean’ comprised a panel involving Jerrol Thompson (Executive Director Medicinal Cannabis Authority, St Vincent and the Grenadines), Faith Graham (Acting Chief Executive, Cannabis Licencing Authority Jamaica), Vicki Hanson (ICCR) and Pein Metaal (TNI).  

April also saw the Observatory team involved with several other on-line events.  The first of these was in relation to the Global Drug Policy Index (GDPI) project. Here, with International Drug Policy Consortium (IDPC) colleagues, Dave presented the GDPI to the GIZ’s Global Partnership on Drug Policies and Development (GPDPD) team as part of their ‘Quick Academy Series’.   Second, Observatory team members Dave, Luca and Dennis took part in the initial meeting of the GDPO’s ‘Drones and counter-narcotics in Latin America’ project. While ticking over for some time, this was the project’s formal kick-off with Ross Eventon and project partners from the Colombian Observatory of Organized Crime (OCCO) at the University of Rosario, Bogota.  It is our pleasure to welcome to the research team Delina Goxho  and Jochen Kleinschmidt. The work stream will involve several publications and related workshops and dissemination events.

During May, GDPO Research Associate Constanza Sanchez Aviles participated at the Social and Family Affairs Committee at the Malta Parliament to provide input on the cannabis decriminalization initiative that is currently underway. Constanza spoke about Cannabis Social Clubs in Spain and in so doing drew on research from her 2018 Observatory Report, Better to Ask Forgiveness Than Permission: Spain’s Sub-national Approach to Drug Policy.  You can read more about the Committee session here. GDPO research was also evident in several other media stories, including Ross’s work on aerial fumigation of coca crops in Colombia and Dave’s on cannabis policy reform.

In relation to more recent research, June saw the publication of a GDPO Policy Report by Martin Horton-Eddison, Patrick Shortis, Judith Aldridge, and Fernando Caudevilla. Drug Cryptomarkets in the 2020s: Policy, Enforcement, Harm, and Resilience builds upon some of the work presented at a side-event at the 2020 CND in Vienna and represents the beginnings of stronger research collaborations with colleagues in the Department of Criminology at The University of Manchester.  The Brief is also accompanied by a video explainer. 

Finally, the quarter saw some restructuring and changes in personnel, both at the GDPI and among partners.  Regarding the latter, in April the David F Musto Center for Drug Policy Studies (Shanghai University) became the International Center for Drug Policy Studies.  The GDPO was please to send a congratulatory video for the inaugural opening ceremony.  Closer to home, Axel’s formal relationship with the Observatory came to an end.  We wish him all the best in his new role as Project Coordinator, Support to West Africa Integrated Maritime Security, ECOWAS, and thank him for all his contributions to and support for the GDPO since its establishment.   However, we also welcome as a new member of the team one of Axel’s African colleagues, Ediomo-Ubong Nelson.  Based in Nigeria Ediomo-Ubong (also known as Nelson) is Alcohol and Drug Policy Advocacy Officer at the International Blue Cross and, under the leadership of Prof. Isidore Obot,  Associate Researcher at the Centre for Research and Information on Substance Abuse.  We look forward to working with Nelson as lead on our Africa project.

Operating within the confines of the ‘new normal’, the GDPO team remained busy over the first quarter of 2021, although admittedly some more than others.  Indeed, with the release of the co-edited (open access) Brill book Drug Policies and Development: Conflict and Co-existence, also published as a special journal edition of International Development Policy, Julia had an especially hard-working few months involved as she was in a number of related panels and launch events.  These included those in Switzerland (chaired by former President of Switzerland Madame Ruth Dreifuss and with Dr. Shannon Hader, Deputy Executive Director UNAIDS Programme, and Assistant Secretary-General of the United Nations as a panellist), Shanghai, China at the David F. Musto Center on Drug Policy Studies at Shanghai University, Morocco  at the Policy Center for the New South in Rabat (chaired by Mohamed Loulichki, former President of the UN Security Council), South Africa with medical colleagues in Cape Town (chaired by Dr. Andrew Scheibe, Technical Advisor for TB HIV Care and researcher at the University of Pretoria’s Department of Family Medicine, South Africa and with concluding remarks from Prof. Quarraisha Abdool Karim, the Associate Scientific Director of the Centre for the AIDS Programme of Research in South Africa) and in Ireland (chaired by Prof. Catherine M. Comiskey, Professor of Healthcare Modelling and Statistics, Trinity College Dublin).  

Julia also participated in a panel for her other recent co-edited and open access collection, with G Margo and L Burger, The Impact of Global Drug Policy on Women: Shifting the Needle (Emerald 2020) which can be viewed here. Additionally, she recorded a podcast with the book's publisher that can be accessed here.  Having clearly mastered the art of the podcast, Julia recorded two others for forthcoming release with Prof David Nutt at Drug Science and with Arun Sridhar at the science based SKRAPS Podcast, as well participating in a TEDx University of Machester panel on psychedelic medicines.  Chris also recorded a piece for the SKRAPS series, with his contribution focusing on the cultural and historical context of drugs and therapeutic use of psychedelics.  An introduction to the SKRAPS project can be found here.  Speaking on a related issue, Axel moderated a webinar, ‘From Menace to Medicine’ on cannabis.  This was part of the series 'People and Psychoactive Plants' at the Centre of Bio-cultural Diversity, University of Kent and was held very pointedly on April Fool’s day.  Chris, meanwhile, was involved with the online event ‘Sixty Years of the Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs’.  Organised by the Haldane Society  other speakers included Kojo Koram, legal academic and editor of The War on Drugs and the Global Colour Line (2019, Pluto Books) and Judy Chang, Executive Director of the International Network of People who Use Drugs (INPUD).   Still within the virtual realm, Dave was an invited participant in a OHCHR Working Group on Arbitrary Detention expert consultation.  This was in relation to the Group’s Study on Drug Policies and Arbitrary Detention, which is to be presented to the Human Rights Council during its forty-seventh session in June-July this year.

 Back ‘in’ Swansea, Matt and Dave continued work on the Global Drug Policy Index project.  This involved the recruitment, via a competitive SPIN internship programme call, of two Department of Political and Cultural Studies Masters students to work as data coders: Daisy Evans and Ladislav Zeman.  The coding team was also joined by Fin Oades, who having completed his degree in Sociology at Cambridge last year is pursuing an internship with the GDPO before taking up a Masters at UCL in September. We welcome all three of them to the project.  The quarter also saw the first meeting of the GDPI’s Scientific Advisory Group (SAG).  Comprising leading experts from the world of statistics as well as drug policy, the SAG will be providing guidance and feedback on the construction of the index over the next few months.

And finally, there was good news from Scotland.  Allan Gillies was appointed as a lecturer in Global Economy in the School of Social and Political Sciences at the University of Glasgow, no mean feat within the particularly parlous climate that characterizes the UK higher education sector.  Huge congratulations go to Allan.  We look forward to continuing collaborations within his new role. 

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