E-DRUG: Governing Informal Drugs Sector

Dear E- Druggers
     
     It is largely recognized that States in developing countries are not
     able to regulate health market. This explains the expansion of the
     informal provision of health care and the development of informal
     distribution of drugs. As Mr Bryan Walser asked on this conference
     (His message of 23 Feb. 1997), it is "time to go beyond the
     established bureaucratic, regulatory, command-and-control paradigm
     (which is already almost collapsing of its own ancient, dusty,
     creaking weight...) and try to use the enormous body of literature and
     knowledge which has been gathered by thousands of profit-oriented
     companies on influencing and manipulating market behaviour in the
     developed countries".
     
     An alternative policy should be built on reality. Participation,
     people livelihood should be the main concerns of policy makers. In
     order to "manipulate market behaviour", the first step is to
     understand how the informal drugs market functions. What are the
     constraints and incentives defining people behaviour in informal drugs
     transactions. My study on Informal Drugs Market in Kinshasa (Za<re)
     demonstrate the usefulness of Institutional Economics approach. Two
     concepts are widely used in the study : uncertainty and governance.
     Uncertainty is the situation of a person who can't predict the outcome
     of his action or decision. Governance is defined as the process
     conducting to a particular pattern of behaviour on the market.
     
     Here are some findings of the study:
     - There are three forms of uncertainties when transacting informally :
     uncertainty on products, on partners and on institutions governing the
     market.
     - There are four key dimensions of market governance: information,
     conflicts resolution, institutional evolution and responsibility.
     - Several actors or institutions intervene in market governance
     (buyers, sellers, organizations, state, families etc.) at several
     levels (individual, societal, legal).
     
     A search for an alternative policy, without studying institutions that
     define constraints shaping behaviour on the informal drugs market, is
     illusory. Because, as Bromley stated, "a market without institutions
     is a contradiction in terms".
     
     Kizito Nsarhaza
     United Nations Research Institute for Social Development

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