- UK authorities have seized a record £500 million worth of cocaine from a ship in the North Sea. Nine Turkish nationals have been charged with drug trafficking offences.
- Colombia’s Health Ministry has recommended banning the herbicide spray that kills coca crops, glyphosate, following the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) classification of it as a carcinogen in humans.
- Three British nationals have been arrested following the seizure of around £100 million worth of cocaine on a yacht off the Irish coast.
- The Economist has published an article comparing the softening approach to drugs in some countries in South America, Europe, and some states in the United States, and the hardening approach in countries like Russia and China.
- The Organization of American States (OAS) has published a ‘Report on Drug Use in the Americas 2015’, which claims the consumption of cocaine in South America is highest in Chile and Uruguay. The perception of ease of access to cocaine is highest in countries that produce cocaine, including Colombia, Peru, Ecuador and Bolivia.
- The US Coast Guard has said it is struggling to capture narcotics being smuggled into the US because its fleet is old and in need of replacement. The agency’s fiscal 2016 budget request includes several hundred million dollars to overhaul the fleet.
