This course equips students with the analytical tools needed to understand, evaluate, and debate contemporary drug policy approaches. Drug policy is a complex policy issue, often shaped by competing narratives, ranging from punitive enforcement models to public health and harm reduction strategies. The course introduces students to the spectrum of policy approaches and examines how they interact with broader policy domains, including development (socio, economic and environmental), human rights, peace and security, gender equality, and global health. Students will learn how drug policy debates rely on different types of data and research methods, and they will critically assess the strengths and limitations of available data sources and methodologies to measure policy outcomes. The course introduces both qualitative and quantitative approaches used to analyze drug markets.
Ultimately, the course uses drug policy as a case study to equip students with critical analytical skills for engaging with complex policy problems and for designing evidence-informed responses to evolving contemporary challenges.
Students will explore the international drug control framework established by the UN drug conventions and the evolution of global drug policy debates. Particular attention will be given to the work and mechanisms of the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs (annually hosted in Vienna) as one of the main inter-governmental bodies where international drug policy is negotiated and debated. The course examines the full range of policy approaches, from full prohibition and “war on drugs” strategies to decriminalization, harm reduction, and legalization debates. These approaches will be assessed on the merit of their harms and benefits through multiple policy lenses, including public health, criminal justice, development, and human rights, and at different governance levels: international, national, and local.
- Instructor: Angela Me