Border and customs inspections, the disabling of trafficking networks, and standard law enforcement techniques of surveillance and infiltration will meet limited success. Although he favors positive approaches, he is aware that previous efforts in this direction have not produced glowing results. Crop-substitution programs have usually been disappointing because they have failed to deal adequately with the market barriers of economies of scale, lengthy gestation periods for establishing alternative crops, and limited transportation networks. To demonstrate that crop substitution can work if properly managed, Stares provides a brief but instructive description of a program in Thailand, where local economic development has been linked to an extensive road program. Stares's ideal positive approach would be much more comprehensive, including infrastructure improvements, easy credit, marketing advice, direct engagement of local and community leaders, and national macroeconomic policies to create market and employment opportunities.
Stares notes that positive measures designed to constrain trafficking face even greater challenges.
Offering legal amnesty or clemency to traffickers in return for cooperation with authorities has had minimal effect on trafficking levels. Stares maintains that targeted investment and employment programs to limit the pool of trafficking recruits could be successful provided that they are of sufficient size and desirability. He is critical of information-only mass media efforts to dissuade drug use and instead favors an integrated educational program that teaches resistance skills and reinforces the antidrug message. Stares concludes his argument for policy reorientation by characterizing the future of the global drug market and its implications for policy. The stresses on the developing countries posed by explosive growth in population, urbanization, lack of economic alternatives, environmental degradation, and the spread of infectious diseases will threaten the legitimacy and integrity of public institutions.