Abstracts n°289

Despite the regrettable disappearance of the French Observatoire geopolitique des drogues (OGD, commission monitoring the international drugs trade) in April 2000, the researchers and correspondents are continuing their major and valuable work (in particular through the Association geopolitique des drogues and the ObservatoiTe geopolitique de l a criminalite internationale). Alain Labrousse, a former director of OGD, provides proof of this in an article surveying Tecent trends in areas such as the manufacture of drugs, the destinations of income derived from the drugs trade, the collusion between drug-trafficking and local conflicts, as well as the efforts to control the supply networks and the producing countries. Despite recent major programmes to tackle the drugs trade, Labrousse notes that the ambitious aims of the various UN agencies are still faT from being achieved.