The War on Drugs in Tanzania

Dane Degenstein

doi:10.5771/9781793654205

Summary

In 2017, late Tanzanian president John Magufuli publicly declared a war on drug users in Tanzania, an unprecedented change in policy in a country leading harm-reduction initiatives in East Africa. In the fall of 2018, Dane Degenstein traveled to Dar es Salaam to learn about these policy changes from those directly impacted. The War on Drugs in Tanzania: Prohibition and Punishment examines the impact of crackdowns on people who use drugs and the impact of policy changes that curtail progressive and humane approaches to improving services for drug users. Degenstein explores how the Tanzanian government sidelined donors and NGOs, undertook a project that directly impinged on human rights, and produced narratives contributing to a global war on drugs. Using the case study of Tanzania, Degenstein draws out larger lessons on the continued international commitment to the war on drugs, how old ideologies that see drug users as criminals and failures continue to be produced, and how the war on drugs erases the perspectives of drug users themselves. Focusing on the experiences of drug activists themselves, the author argues for a radical rethinking of global drug policy.

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Bibliographic data

Copyright year: 2022
ISBN-Print: 978-1-7936-5419-9
ISBN-Online: 978-1-7936-5420-5
Publisher: Lexington, Lanham
Language: English
Pages: 196
Product type: Book Titles

1. Epigraph No access
2. Contents No access
3. Acknowledgments No access
1. Introducing the War on Drugs in Tanzania No access
2. Fighting Drugs: An International Consensus No access
3. Lessons from the War on Drugs in Tanzania No access
4. The War on Drugs in Tanzania: Appeasement, Intimidation, and Control No access
5. Locating Agency in Tanzanian Drug Policy No access
6. Broader Implications No access
7. Plan of the Book No access
8. Notes No access
1. 1. The Rise of the Drug Warriors No access
  2. The Cost of Pursuing a Drug-Free World No access
  3. A Better Way: Harm Reduction No access
  4. Lasting Narratives of Drug Use and Control No access
  5. Conclusion No access
  6. Note No access
2. 1. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) No access
  2. The United Nations General Assembly Special Session on Drugs (UNGASS) No access
  3. UNGASS and Africa: Further Challenging Consensus No access
  4. Setting the Stage for Drug Use in Tanzania No access
  5. Conclusion No access
1. 1. Independence and the Party of the Revolution No access
  2. Aid Dependence, Corruption, and Dominance No access
  3. Lack of Development, Corruption, and the Influence of the Donors No access
  4. Morality, Authoritarianism, and Control: Enter President John Magufuli No access
  5. Questionable Tactics and Increasing Control No access
  6. Conclusion No access
  7. Note No access
2. 1. Background No access
  2. Patterns of Use and the Experience of People Who Use Drugs No access
  3. Using in Hot Spots (“Maskani”) No access
  4. The Methadone Program in Tanzania and Harm Reduction No access
  5. Sober Houses, 12 steps and Approaches to Help People Who Use Drugs No access
  6. Conclusion No access
  7. Notes No access
3. 1. The Crackdown: Magufuli’s War on Drugs No access
  2. Behind the Crackdown: Shifting Policy and Marginalization No access
  3. A View of the Process from the Ground No access
  4. Conclusion No access
4. 1. Impacts of the Crackdown No access
  2. Failing People Who Use Drugs: Rhetoric and Reality No access
  3. Methadone and Harm Reduction: Persistence and Change No access
  4. Conclusion No access
1. 1. Magufuli and International NGOs, a Wary Relationship No access
  2. Serving People Who Use Drugs, an International Perspective No access
  3. Competing Systems of Support and Control No access
  4. Locating Agency in the Tanzanian Drug War No access
  5. Conclusion No access
2. 1. The Narrative as Presented? No access
  2. Drug Use as a Health Crisis No access
  3. Drug Use as a Criminal Threat No access
  4. Drug Use as a Threat to Development No access
  5. Donors, Influence, and the Role of Tanzania in Framing Drug Use No access
  6. Conclusion No access
1. The War on Drugs, Harm Reduction, and Tanzania: Intimidation and Appeasement No access
2. International Perspectives and War on Drugs Narratives: The Role of Tanzania No access
3. Looking Ahead No access
1. Interviews No access
2. Hot Spots No access
3. References No access
Index No access Pages 191 - 194
About the Author No access Pages 195 - 196