DRYING ICE

presenting the dataset on drug seizures in the Brazilian South

Abstract

The so-called war on drugs is one of the main public security policies and strategies in force in Brazil. Although the current repressive model burdens scarce resources in essential areas such as education and health, its systematic evaluation is hindered by the lack of tangible indicators of success. Increases in seizures are often interpreted as triumphs of the government's strategy, but they may actually reflect the failure of the war on drugs strategy, reflected in an increase in the supply and availability of drugs. This study proposes the use of seizure data to analyze the landscape of the work of the police in four Brazilian states in their drug suppression actions. In this context, the adoption of final and intermediate indicators to evaluate the implementation of the Drug Law. To this end, we constructed the Microdata Dataset of Drug Seizures in the South of Brazil, gathering information on seizures in the states of Mato Grosso do Sul, Paraná, Rio Grande do Sul, and Santa Catarina. We analyzed 775 thousand drug seizures in this region, comparing approaches between different police forces. This study contributes to the discussion on the war on drugs, demonstrating the need for reassessment of its approach and the adoption of metrics more aligned with public health and security objectives. The empirical analysis sheds light on the complexity of the issue and provides insights to inform more effective policies in the future.