Drug Wars & Coffee Houses

From the more tolerant 'coffee house' style policies of the Netherlands which focus on public health concerns, to the United States' just-say-no 'drug war' approach, nations frame and seek to resolve drug issues in very different ways and with different levels of success. This variation creates a host of global cooperation and policy coordination problems. "Drug Wars and Coffee Houses" provides an ideal supplement for examining the dynamics of the global political economy. A compelling framework - focusing on political economic ideas and analysis - shows students how leaders and policymakers need to understand the entirety of the drug commodity system if they are to have an impact its different segments. Through the book's use of extended case studies, the text provides an inside look at a complex policy area, from Sweden's attempts to enforce drug-war style policies, to Spain's movement towards decriminalization. Mares asks: What causes leaders and policymakers - at both the domestic and international levels - to create or alter drug policies? Why do rich democratic countries and poor non-democratic countries alike produce, sell, and consume illegal psychoactive substances? What is it about the drug trade that fosters demand worldwide, yet elicits such wide-ranging responses from governments and international organizations? Perhaps most importantly, how best can we study an issue that is awash in myths, moral inconsistencies, social prejudices, and political rhetoric? Comparative analyses of the UN (where diplomatic consensus on prohibition remains strong) and the EU (wherein member states have agreed to disagree), as well as the U.S.'s attempts to force Canada to conform to U.S. policy on marijuana, help readers sort myth from reality.