Review of The World Heroin Market

For decades, international policies towards heroin have not deviated from an intense focus on cutting supply. Few analysts have supported this position, observing that suppliers respond to successful interdiction by developing new routes; and to aggressive efforts to curb production by changing production techniques and shifting production to new areas. Policy advocates have defended their position by emphasizing tons of drugs seized and hectares eradicated, while highlighting some of the apparent successes of policies targeted at supply: Thailand's elimination of opium production and the dramatic fall in opium cultivation in Afghanistan following prohibition by the Taliban. In their meticulous analysis, with new data on supplier responses to these policies, Paoli, Greenfield and Reuter (2009) cast substantial doubt on these defenses.