Over 50 years since the term ‘War on Drugs’ was coined after then President of the United States Richard Nixon’s speech, has the time come to reassess the merits of conventional anti-drug policies for dealing with the global movement and sale of narcotics? Drawing on global examples from the Golden Crescent (Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran), the Golden Triangle (Myanmar, Thailand, Laos), Latin America, Russia, and West Africa, Transforming the War on Drugs, edited by Dr Annette Idler and Juan Carlos Garzón Vergara (Oxford University Press 2021), reconsiders the impact of this global struggle upon local contexts, in areas such as human rights, development and public health.

For this special event, Professor Kwesi Aning and Dr Elizabeth Joyce join Dr Annette Idler for a roundtable discussion intended to challenge conventional thinking around the global illicit drugs problem to understand the local impacts of the war. The event will be moderated by Rafat Ali Al-Akhali and will close with a drinks reception.