Calls for a radical change in West Africa’s drug policy

A new report by the West Africa Commission on Drugs (WACD) has called for a radical rethink on how West African governments tackle the war on drugs. The report, entitled Not Just in Transit: Drugs, the State and Society in West Africa, urges the decriminalisation of low-level and non-violent drug offences, choosing to view these offences as a public health issue. LSE’s Sasha Jesperson conducts research on organised crime on the security-development nexus and in this post, she outlines some of the factors at play in the drugs trade in West Africa.