Published in the International Journal of Drug Policy.
The militarised approach to drugs supply continues to predominate, despite a new emphasis on drugs, peace and development. This viewpoint argues that the drugs road which often begins in peripheral, war torn or recovering, supply, processing and transport borderlands is part of a social, national and global system of inequality. States in such contexts, often reproduce and disperse violence and development policy fails to take account of community adaptations to survival livelihoods. To reset the conversation towards violence reduction and new livelihoods, states must involve the borderlanders themselves, protecting and enabling them to build a new road to peace.