Curriculum Guide · Courses

Professor Alvaro Santos

J.D. Seminar 1102 (cross-listed) | 3 credit hours

This seminar will explore the policy of prohibition on drug production, distribution and consumption that embodies the long-standing hemispheric “war on drugs”. It will examine the legal regime that underpins current policies on drug trafficking (international, transnational and domestic regulations) related to criminalization but also to arms’ sale and money laundering. We will reflect on the economic and social consequences that drug-trafficking prohibition has had in countries and communities situated on different sides of the global drug trade. Our focus will be primarily on the United States, Mexico and Colombia. The seminar will explore the dominant “law and order” criminalization paradigm and contrast it with other potential approaches that focus on public health and economic development. We will conclude by considering a range of potential policy alternatives to the current model.

This seminar requires a paper. J.D. students must register for the 3 credit section of the seminar if they wish to write a paper fulfilling the Upperclass Legal Writing Requirement. The paper requirements of the 2 credit section will not fulfill the J.D. Upperclass Legal Writing Requirement.