Towards shared responsibility? The United States, Latin America and the drug trade

In 1998, the member states of the United Nations committed to the objective of achieving by 2008 “significant and measurable results in the field of demand reduction” and to make “real progress in eliminating or reducing significantly crops of opium poppy, coca and cannabis”. One of the central principles underpinning those joint efforts and the commitment of the international community was shared responsibility, the moral obligation that countries with high levels of drug consumption (consumer countries) should assist countries with high levels of drug production (the traditional supplier or producer countries).