The Home Office in the UK has published a report on approaches to drug misuse and addiction in other countries. The report concludes an 18-month study of international comparators in drugs policy, announced by the government in March 2013. As part of the study ministers and officials visited nine countries to see how governments and…
Ronald K. Noble the US Law Professor who has led the organisation for the past 14 years is stepping down and is due to be replaced by Jürgen Stock, the vice president of the German Federal Criminal Police. One of the first issues that the incumbent will have to consider is whether to collect a…
UNODC is expected to collaborate with Fiji in its efforts against drug trafficking, corruption and terrorism as the Pacific region is considered vulnerable to transnational organised crime The alleged leader of Portsmouth drug trafficking organisation, Antwan Black, has been sentenced to three and a half years in prison; disrupting drug supply in the region Detectives from the…
Dominican Republican authorities arrested seven people including an intelligence officer and seized RD$3 million in connection with a drug trafficking case. Bolivia is allegedly becoming the new drug trafficking hub in South America. Several Paraguayan politicians are reportedly linked to drug-trafficking cases, mafias and assassinations. Portuguese authorities arrested two Ukrainians and seized 600 kilograms of cocaine…
On April 3 2014, Uruguay’s undersecretary for public health used a UN-hosted conference on women, drug policy, and incarceration on the Americas to propose a novel method of tackling drug addiction. ‘Jail is not a very suitable place for someone to safely overcome drug addiction’, said Leonel Briozzo, before suggesting that marijuana (legalised in Uruguay…
This article first appeared on the RUSI website. On 9 September, Mexican authorities located 1,639 healthy coca plants growing on a plot of land close to the Guatemalan border. It represents the first coca plantation ever to be discovered on Mexican soil, and was followed by media speculation that Mexico might supplant Colombia as the…
The World Anti-Doping Agency asserted that organised crime is the biggest threat to sport with 25 percent of world sport controlled by criminal groups German authorities confiscated a 330kg heroin shipment valued at €50 million. It is believed to be the largest heroin shipment to Germany in decades The African Union released a report, assessing…
As the drugs policy debate gains momentum ahead of UNGASS 2016, many different perspectives are being put forward. This weekend the Guardian newspaper examined British attitudes to drugs in their ‘Drugs Uncovered’ series. The cornerstone of the series was the British Drugs Survey 2014. The survey revealed that the proportion of the population that have…
In the UK, a number of high profile drugs traffickers have been arrested, including Kevin Hanley, Johnny Kock, and several people implicated in the recent yacht seizure off the Irish Coast Five kilograms of cocaine were seized and three members of an Albanian organized crime network were arrested by the UK’s National Crime Agency. Eight…
200 kilograms of heroin, 1.3 tonnes of cannabis and 599 kilograms of cocaine were seized and 1150 people were arrested, following Operation Archimedes coordinated by Europol across Europe. Mexican drug cartels have begun trafficking cocaine directly from Southern America, displacing the Colombian middlemen. The European Union and the United Nations pledged their continued support for…
