Abstract
The article analyzes the contemporary transatlantic flow of illegal drugs, taking on account the current transformation of the connections among South American, African and European Drug-Trafficking Organizations (ODTs) and the tendency to securitize this traffic which interests the Brazilian public, national and regional security and diplomatic policies. The article presents a history of the transatlantic drugtrafficking and the its contemporary contours in order to suggest viable initiatives to cope with this new and aggravated panorama pushed through by the so-called “war on drugs”.
Highlights
Since the 1980s, the US emphasis on the militarization of the combat against drug-trafficking has coincided with the first European alternative experiences toward the “drug problem”, especially the implementation of the first programs of harm reduction in the Netherlands and others
The “European Model” (Gratius and Palacios 2012) has started a new approach centered on the “demand pole”, without stigmatizing or criminalizing the user
Despite the recent initiatives to introduce “health-focused” approaches both in the US and in several Latin American countries, such as Mexico, Colombia, Uruguay, and even Brazil, the main formula remains based on repressive measures against selected segments of each one of the countries in the continent (Rodrigues, Kalil, Zepeda, Rosen, 2017)
Summary
The “war on drugs” is a huge failure. There is no novelty in this sentence. The “European Model” (Gratius and Palacios 2012) has started a new approach centered on the “demand pole”, without stigmatizing or criminalizing the user. This model differs from the history of the US and the Latin American drug policies. The repressive formula is still predominant, but it is not hegemonic anymore New problems, such as the use of opioids in the US (Quinones, 2016), the emergence of new significant illegal drugs’ markets (as the Brazilian one), and the spread of synthetic drugs (such as methamphetamines), have modified the panorama of global drugtrafficking. THE TRANSATLANTIC NARCONEXUS central hypothesis that the 21th century brings what we call a new TransAtlantic Narco-Nexus, in which Brazil plays a major role as a platform for illegal drugs export toward Europe
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