Webinar: Changing Drug Markets in Africa – Research and Policy Issues

October 6th 2021, 3-4.30 pm CET

This seminar, organized by the International Society for the Study of Drug Policy (ISSDP) in collaboration with the Global Initiative against Transnational Organized Crime (GI-TOC), aims to contribute to expanding the research base on drug markets in Africa. Further, it seeks to highlight vital ongoing research within the region demonstrating the ever more complex relation between transnational and local drug markets. The seminar incorporates a multidisciplinary approach, grounded in new empirical research on the dynamics of various drugs trades across Africa and the lessons that can be learned from this research for future research design and policy analysis. The presentations are designed to reflect a diversity of perspectives, and to provide points of departure for further examination by the discussant and in a Q&A session with panellists.

Presentation / discussion focus	Speaker, title, institution	Time
Chair	Jallal Toufiq, Director of the Moroccan National Observatory on Drugs and Addiction and International Society of Substance Use Professionals, Morocco.	5 mins
Retail characteristics of illicit drug markets in eastern and southern Africa, methodological challenges & issues	Jason Eligh, Senior Expert, Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime	10-12 mins
A research partnership with people who use drugs to examine Kenyan drug markets from the inside out, methodology and access to the community of people who use drugs	Bernice Apondi, Policy Manager, Voices of Community Action and Leadership (VOCAL), Kenya	10-12 mins
Prescription medicine trafficking and misuse in West Africa, trafficking in tramadol, data sources, challenges and obstacles, institutional responses	Maria-Goretti Ane Loglo, Focal point for International Drug Policy Consortium (IDPC), Ghana	10-12 mins
Innovative methodologies for drug market research in Africa	Simone Haysom, Senior Analyst, Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime	10-12 mins
Discussant	Prof. Peter Reuter, School of Public Policy & Department of Criminology at University of Maryland	10-12 mins
Q&A session		35 mins

Joint ISSDP-UNODC webinar

A scientific look at the 2020 World Drug Report

A joint ISSDP-UNODC webinar took place on 2 July 2020.

The webinar featured an overview of the 2020 World Drug Report by Angela Me (Chief Research and Trend Analysis Branch, UNODC) and an ISSDP panel of experts discussing three key topics: 1) socioeconomic circumstances of heavy use, 2) access to controlled medicine and 3) the rise of meth and stimulants.

Webinar 1 Presentations

Outlining the 2020 World Drug Report	Angela Me Director of Research United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC)
Access to Controlled Medicines	Suzanne Nielsen Associate Professor and Deputy Director Monash Addiction Research Centre, Monash University
Rise of methamphetamine & stimulants	Mr Alexander Soderholm London School of Economics and Political Science
Socioeconomic Characteristics and Drug Use Disorders	Gideon Lasco, MD, PhD Research Fellow, Ateneo de Manila University Senior Lecturer University of the Philippines