The Political Economy of Illicit Drugs in Latin America: Magnitude, Concepts and Public Policies

Abstract:     
What follows is a policy paper about the drug control policies carried by Latin American countries during the last three decades. The paper is organized in three parts. In part one I describe the recent changes in national and international illicit drugs’ regulations. The second part is dedicated to present available data on consumption, cultivation and production of illicit substances in order to allow an evaluation of the magnitude of the drug industry in the region. Part three portraits some examples of policies adopted by national governments to regulate illicit drugs markets.

Note: Downloadable document is in Portuguese.

Number of Pages in PDF File: 36

Keywords: Illicit drugs, crime control policies

JEL Classification: K42

working papers series