An international policy issue awash in myths, moral inconsistencies, social prejudices, and political rhetoric, it’s no wonder students find the international drug trade an alluring topic to study and discuss. With his brief and engaging new book, David Mares explores the reasons why there is so much disagreement among nations about which policies are most appropriate to address drug production, distribution, and trade. 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 these issues in very different ways and with different levels of success. This variation creates a host of global cooperation and policy coordination problems, making Drug Wars and Coffee Houses an ideal supplement for giving students an opportunity to apply the larger themes of any political economy course to a substantive policy area.

A compelling framework—focusing on political economic ideas and analysis—shows students how leaders and policymakers need to understand the drug trade as a full-blown commodity system if they are to impact its different segments. As he discusses drug production, consumption, distribution, and money laundering, Mares carefully shows what insights micro political economic, realist, constructivist, and social deviant perspectives each bring to bear on the problem. And, through the book’s use of extended case studies, this text offers students an inside look at a complex and fascinating policy area, from Sweden’s attempts to enforce drug-war style policies, to the UK’s movement towards decriminalization, to the responses of such international organizations as the United Nations and the European Union.

A comprehensive bibliography of websites, articles, and book length studies point to further research on the topic, while class-tested research and study questions for each chapter will jumpstart class discussions and projects.

CQ Press is pleased to comply with the Higher Education Opportunity Act. Please email heoacompliance@cqpress.com for additional information that may be available. Be sure to include your name, contact information, academic affiliation, and the title, author, and edition of the book in question.

Contact us at collegesales@cqpress.com if we may assist you in your book selection or if you have feedback to share. Thank you for your consideration of CQ Press books.

Preface

Part I: Thinking about Illicit Drugs
1. The Drug Trade as a Global and National Phenomenon
2. Analytic Perspectives for Understanding the Drug Trade

Part II: The Phenomenon, Its Dynamics and Policy Options
3. Conceptualizing the User
4. The Production of Psychoactive Substances
5. Distribution: Linking Producers and Consumers
6. Money Laundering: Money Makes the World Go Round
7. The Political Economy of International Drug Strategies: Going It Alone or Working Together

Part III: Case Studies of National Experiences
8. The United States: From Crime Reduction to Drug War, 1968-1982
9. The Netherlands: From Drug War to Dynamic Harm Reduction, 1960-2002
10. Sweden: From Harm Reduction to Drug War, 1965-1993

Suggested Readings
Index

“Drug Wars and Coffee Houses will quickly become a much utilized text for professors introducing students to the highly complex but critical area of drugs and drug policy. Mares's book is thoroughly researched, analytically rich, and lucidly written. He does an excellent job selecting his topics and themes, and the examples pull from his extensive knowledge of the subject while reinforcing the notion that the drug trade/war/policy is indeed both a local, national, and global problem. I am confident that undergraduates will find this a lively and useful introduction to this critical area of public policy.”

“Drug Wars and Coffeehouses is written in a lively and accessible style. It should easily appeal to a wide student body and readership beyond the campus. Its strength clearly lies in a solid empirical grounding that lifts the debate on drugs above the often polarized, uninformed and ideological debates in the policy arena. It carefully dissects existing prejudices and misinterpretations and leaves the reader both better informed and curious to learn to understand more about the subject.”

“Drug Wars and Coffeehouses is the perfect core text for my Global Drug Policy class as well as an ideal supplement for my class in International Political Economy. This comprehensive and scholarly analysis of the international drug trade is most timely and fills a critical gap in the political economy literature. Given the heated and ongoing debate over drug policy, it is sure to become a hit with my students.”

David R. Mares is Professor of Political Science and an adjunct professor at The Graduate School of International Relations/Pacific Studies at the University of California, San Diego. Previously, he has been Professor of the Centro de Estudios Internacionales at El Colegio de Mexico, Fulbright Professor at the Universidad de Chile and Visiting Professor at FLACSO-Ecuador. Professor Mares is the author of three books, Penetrating the International Market (also published in Spanish); Violent Peace: Militarized Interstate Bargaining in Latin America; Coming in From the Cold: Chile-United States Relations at the Millenium (with Francisco Rojas); and editor of Civil-Military Relations: Building Democracy and Regional Security in Latin America, Southern Asia and Central Europe. His publications have appeared in English, Spanish, French and Chinese in journals such as Comparative Politics, International Organization, Latin American Research Review, Foro Internacional, Estudios Internacionales and Fuerzas Armadas y Sociedad and he has served on the editorial board of Latin American Research Review. Professor Mares has been a member of the international advisory boards of the Instituto Latinoamericano de Relaciones Civiles-Militares (based in Peru) and the Center for US-Mexico Studies at UCSD, and prepared reports for the Carnegie Foundation, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, the Netherlands Institute of International Relations, as well as the Arias Foundation for Human Progress and Development.