The result of a five-year-long research project involving extensive fieldwork in six Asian countries, Colombia, and Turkey, this book is the first systematic analysis of the contemporary world heroin market, delving into its development and structure, its participants, and its socio-economic impact. It provides a sound and comprehensive empirical base for concluding that there is little opportunity to shrink the global supply of heroin in the long term, and explains why production is concentrated in a handful of countries--and is likely to remain that way. On the basis of these findings, the authors identify a key set of policy opportunities, largely local, and make suggestions for leveraging them. This book also offers new insights into market conditions in India, Tajikistan, and other countries that have been greatly harmed by the production and trafficking of illegal opiates.
A deft integration of economics, sociology, history, and policy analysis, The World Heroin Market provides a rigorous and vital look into the complex--and resilient--global heroin trade.
About the Author
Letizia Paoli is Professor of Criminology at the K.U. Leuven Faculty of Law, Belgium.
Victoria A. Greenfield is the Crowe Chair Professor in the Economics of the Defense Industrial Base in the Department of Economics at the U.S. Naval Academy.
Peter Reuter is Professor in the School of Public Policy and the Department of Criminology at the University of Maryland.