NCJ Number
176720
Date Published
1998
Length
208 pages
Annotation
This book charts the political and economic underpinnings of drug control policy and practice in the United Kingdom and within Europe through the 1980s and 1990s; within this broader context, the focus is on the impact of one select group of drug offenders, i.e., drug importers.
Abstract
The book begins by locating Britain's place on the international drug-control map, first with an examination of Britain in the new Europe and the general moves to harmonize European drug control, and second by examining British drug control's relationship with foreign policy. The next two chapters outline the "geo-political" nature of drug control and locate the international drug trade within that framework. The fourth chapter provides a geo-political case study of Nigeria, an important drug transit country, whose citizens, during the later 1980s and 1990s, were overrepresented in British jails after being convicted of drug importation. Imprisoned Nigerian traffickers offer their perspectives on the effects of economic, political, and social upheaval on their involvement in the drug trade. This then leads to a qualitative study of a multinational group of imprisoned drug couriers; this study undermines the prevalent image of "demonic" drug traffickers. The sixth chapter provides a brief history of drug control policy in the United Kingdom, tracing the rise of the "demon" trafficker in political discourse. The emergence of the drug trafficker as a public enemy is essential to understanding the role of drug policy in shaping new and repressive law enforcement strategies. It is also essential to understanding why, in the face of the geo-political analysis offered in the early chapters, the courier remains a central target in the war against drugs. The trends toward more punitive treatment of drug offenders in criminal justice and increasingly repressive drug-enforcement legislation are analyzed in terms of both Conservative and Labour policies. Chapter seven explores the nature of Britain's war against drugs, documenting its fiscal costs and relative failures. The concluding chapter examines the punishment of drug traffickers and asks what the repressive punishment of this group of offenders contributes to drug control. The author submits this analysis as evidence of the necessity for a radical and informed change in British drug control policy. 440 references and a subject index