TNI/WOLA Drug Law Reform Project

The TNI/WOLA Drug Law Reform Project promotes more effective and humane drug policies through dialogue and up-to-date analysis of developments in the region.

The project was created amidst growing evidence that the decades long “War on Drugs” has failed. Current international drug control policies have not decreased drug consumption, curbed the planting of crops destined for the illicit market, or curtailed the expanding drug trade. Instead, they have marginalized drug users who are pushed out of reach of treatment programs, repressed farmers who may have no other means of survival, and overwhelmed criminal justice systems. Such policies have targeted users and small-scale traffickers, while large-scale criminal organizations have remained unrestrained.

It is time for an honest discussion based on research and analysis into the effectiveness of current and alternative drug policies. The TNI/WOLA Drug Law Reform Project aims to inform national and international debates, incorporating the principles of effective law enforcement practices, harm reduction, proportionality of sentences, prison reform, and human rights.

Our analysts – scholars, policy-makers, and legal experts – provide up-to-date information on drug policy developments in Latin America. The TNI/WOLA Drug Law Reform Project is coordinating a series of informal drug policy dialogues and workshops in the region. Our in-country researchers are conducting investigations of drug control laws, their applications, and prison conditions in eight key countries: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Peru, and Uruguay.

Ten Years TNI Drugs Programme

TNI has been involved in international drugs policy work since the 1998 UN General Assembly Special Session on Drugs (UNGASS). This new report summarises the lessons of 10 years of work in this field, emphasising drug controls that respect human rights: the rights of farmers caught in the illicit economy to a life in dignity; decriminalisation of drug use; and the promotion of harm reduction approaches where they are proven to save lives.

Download Ten Years - TNI Drugs & Democracy Programme 1998-2008 (PDF)