Last Updated: 27th April 2012
Press Release
Adelphi 428: Drugs, Insecurity and Failed States: The Problems of Prohibition
By Nigel Inkster & Virginia Comolli
The Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) launched the newest title in the Adelphi series on Tuesday 17 April 2012 at their London office.
Watch the panel discussion at the book's launch
About the book:
The global trade in illicit drugs is thriving, with no apparent change in global levels of consumption despite decades of prohibition. After 18-months of research, Nigel Inkster and Virginia Comolli have concluded that the present enforcement regime is not only failing to win the 'War on Drugs', it is also a major cause of violence and instability in producer and transit countries.
The authors assess the national and human security costs of prohibition and consider alternative approaches, concluding that the policies of the past half-century should be subject to radical review and an open debate based on empirical research. Drugs need to be taken out of their specialised silo and viewed in the context of a wider security and development agenda.
At the launch of this new Adelphi book, Inkster and Comolli unpacked some of the key themes tackled in Drugs, Insecurity and Failed States: The Problems of Prohibition
Prior to joining IISS, Nigel Inkster served in the British Secret Intelligence Service retiring as Assistant Chief and Director of Operations and Intelligence. Since joining IISS he has undertaken research on the security problems of Afghanistan and Colombia and has written and lectured on terrorism and insurgency and other non-traditional security threats.
Virginia Comolli is a Research Analyst in the Transnational Threats and Political Risk programme at IISS. She has worked as an analyst in the private security sector and since joining IISS has written on and participated in conferences on various aspects of organised crime and related security issues and well as on terrorism and conflict.
'The unintended consequences of the global drugs control regime have been felt most keenly in fragile and failing states which have seen their security threatened and their institutions subverted by criminal networks competing for the massive profits generated by an international black market in illicit substances. IISS provides a detailed and dispassionate analysis of this phenomenon and highlights the need to consider alternative approaches.'
Fernando Henrique Cardoso, former President of Brazil; Chair, Global Commission on Drug Policy
View the Adelphi Series Online homepage.
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