Authorities in Mexico have made what is almost certainly the largest seizure of methamphetamine in the country’s history, approximately 50 metric tons, along with precursor chemicals and equipment in the western state of Sinaloa. This seizure suggests that growing US demand has encouraged Mexican crime groups to increase production. In one of the largest drug…
Between March and May 2018, INTERPOL coordinated operations in 36 countries across Africa, Asia, the Middle East and South America, with the aim of shutting down factories and cutting off supply chains behind a wide range of counterfeit goods and the organised crime networks directing them. The operations yielded global seizures worth USD 25 million.…
Under the framework of the projects CRIMJUST and “Response to Drugs and Related Organized Crime in Nigeria”, UNODC conducted, on 12 July 2018, the first replication workshop on “Drug identification with handheld electronic field testing devices” in Lagos, Nigeria. It was the first training in West Africa to introduce the use of the testing devices,…
The United Kingdom Border Force Unit has handed over two operational vans and equipment valued at $120,000 Dollars to the Narcotic Control Board (NACOB) to boost Ghana’s fight against drug trafficking. Mozambique has become a significant heroin transit centre. Estimations suggest 40 tonnes or more per year are traded from Mozambique, making it a major…
Left-wing candidate Andrés Manuel López Obrador has claimed victory in Mexico’s presidential election, held on 1 July. One of his main policies is combating Mexico’s record levels of violence, much of it related to drug cartels. Epidiolex, a cannabis-based treatment for childhood epilepsy developed, is set to be launched in the autumn after being approved…
The 2018 World Drug Report, launched on 26 June by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), provides a global overview of the supply and demand of opiates, cocaine, cannabis, amphetamine-type stimulants and new psychoactive substances (NPS), as well as their impact on health. Moreover, it highlights the different drug use patterns…
Recreational marijuana use will soon be legal in Canada after the Senate passed a “historic” bill on 19 June with a vote of 52-29. Canada is only the second country in the world — and the first G7 nation — to implement legislation to permit a nationwide marijuana market. Fourteen cocaine-soaked shirts styled like the…
The European Drug Report 2018, released on 7 June by the EMCDDA, mentioned that the purity of street cocaine across Europe is at its highest level in a decade and that the number of people seeking treatment for cocaine addiction has risen. Solution to fight illegal drugs can be country-specific, as the 3-year Mexico-Filipino cooperation…
The European Drug Report 2018: Trends and Developments launched on 7 June in Brussels by Commissioner for Migration, Home Affairs and Citizenship Dimitris Avramopoulos and the Director of the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) Alexis Goosdeel, offers a comprehensive view of the latest drug trends across Europe. • Cocaine: increased availability…
On May 26, Guatemala’s National Civil Police announced the discovery and destruction of almost one hectare of coca, calling it ‘’the first-ever evidence of cocaine production in the country’’. The discovery may be a sign that drug trafficking groups are looking to cut risks and transport costs while expanding experiments growing drug crops in Central…
