This is the first edition of the IDPC Drug Policy Guide aimed at national government policy makers. This publication is a collaborative effort by a number of IDPC members and partners, and brings together global evidence and best practices on the design and implementation of drug policies and programmes at national level.

This paper contributes to recent debates surrounding the improvement of the UN drug control system’s methods of gathering and analysing data. It critically examines the current predominance of quantitative evidence, arguing for a greater emphasis on the cultural understanding of drug use and more attention to the taken-for-granted assumptions underpinning policies.

Approximately 50 producers of coca leaves, cannabis and opium poppy from Latin America and the Caribbean, Africa and Asia and more than 20 experts and NGO representatives gathered at this first world forum in Barcelona, Spain from January 29 to 31, 2009 in Barcelona, Spain. Organized by CERAI, the forum provided a space for sharing experiences and reflecting on ways to protect the human rights of affected communities and promote alternative models of sustainable development.

These two briefings focus on the current domestic and international debates regarding the Bolivian government's defence of the indigenous practice of coca chewing. The first memo reviews the March 2008 INCB report which calls for the elimination of all traditional uses of coca, and the response of the Bolivian and U.S. governments. Washington has both recognized the legitimacy of traditional uses of coca while backing the INCB's demand for its elimination. The memo calls on the U.S. government to formally clarify its position.