The Political Economy of Narcotics: Production, Consumption, and Global Markets

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THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF NARCOTICS: PRODUCTION, CONSUMPTION, AND GLOBAL MARKETS Julia Buxton London: Zed Books 2006, 246 pp, GBP 16.99, ISBN. 1-55266-198-9

As the title promises, this book tackles an enormous and complex subject, of which the author clearly has a commanding grasp. Buxton argues that international policies aimed at eliminating the production, trade and use of narcotics worldwide have not only failed, but are counter-productive and cause more harm than good. One of her key arguments in explaining why this is the case, is that:

international drug control policies have been intertwined with US foreign policy goals since the launch of the control system nearly …