Axel

Klein

I began research on West African trafficking routes in the early 90s, followed by a number of drug control projects for the European Commission in the Caribbean, before heading the research unit at the London NGO DrugScope. From there, I moved to the Addictive Behaviour Unit at the University of Kent and am currently with the Global Drug Policy Observatory at the University of Swansea. In 2018 I oversaw a multi-site search project on the trafficking of tramadol in West Africa. After a couple of decades as participant observer, academic scholar and operational consultant I have declining faith in the capacity of techno-bureaucratic solutions to politically constructed ‘drug’ problems. My publications include Collapse of the Global Order on Drugs. From UNGASS 2016 to Review 2019; “Poly and Tricky Dick: The drug war origins of the term “polydrug use” Nordic Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, 2018; “Tramadol: a valuable treatment for pain in Ghana and Nigeria,” Current Medical Research and Opinion, 35,5, pp. 777-784; “Drug Problem or Medicrime? Distribution and Use of Falsified Tramadol Medication in Egypt and West Africa.” Journal of Illicit Economies and Development, 1(1), pp. 52–62.