drug policies in the Caribbean

drug policies in the Caribbean

Regional Drug Policies
The illicit use of controlled drugs in the Caribbean region is treated exclusively as a criminal justice issue and use often leads to incarceration; the term ‘zero tolerance’ is a commonly used expression in the region's political rhetoric. Fuelled in part by the expansion in crack cocaine consumption since the mid-1980s, criminal justice systems across the Caribbean have, according to St. Lucia’s Caribbean Drug and Alcohol Treatment Institute, seen a great increase in drug cases. Policies heavily focused on the criminalisation of people who use drugs, small-time dealers or petty drug-related crimes have produced a strain on a criminal justice system lacking a robust alternative to incarceration and has led to massive prison overcrowding which strains the capacity of national authorities.
The harms associated with drug trafficking are often exacerbated when countries have low GDP per capita or poor social infrastructure. Haiti, which ranks as one of the top ten most fragile states globally, and the poorest in the Americas, has suffered devastating effects due corruption and poor governance which has allowed it to be used as a cocaine trafficking route further contributing to the increase in crime and police corruption. The Caribbean region also suffers from high murder rates, and research by the World Bank and UNODC indicates that the growth of the international drug trade in the region is associated with rising rates of homicide, firearm proliferation, violence, kidnapping and property-related crime.
Although on a smaller scale than the drug cartels of Mexico and Colombia, the Caribbean's illicit drug trade can still create violent criminal groups that bring high levels of insecurity. In Jamaica in 2010, attempts by the security forces to arrest a powerful local drug dealer Christopher ‘dudus’ Coke led to the deaths of 73 people, some believed to be civilians. Due to an increase in cocaine being trafficked through the Dominican...

Similar Essays