Police operations and body bags are nothing new to Rio, where state police killed a record 1,810 people last year, nearly five a day. But with the city now in partial shutdown because of Covid-19, and citizens under orders to stay indoors, favela residents are voicing outrage that the police’s terrifying incursions into their communities have not been halted. Friday’s operation – which left 13 people dead – was the latest in a series of deadly police assaults which have continued despite the quarantine imposed by Rio’s hardline governor, Wilson Witzel, in mid-March. “People should be getting help, not getting shot at,” complained congresswoman Renata Souza, who said it was inhumane for such operations to continue during the pandemic.

Colonel Romeo Caramat, the head of drug enforcement for the Philippine National Police, said that ultra-violent approach to curbing illicit drugs had not been effective. “Shock and awe definitely did not work,” he said. “Drug supply is still rampant.” Caramat said the volume of crime had decreased as a result of the drug war, but users could still buy illegal drugs “any time, anywhere” in the Philippines. He said he now favored a new strategy. Rather than quickly arresting or killing low-level pushers and couriers, he wants to put them under surveillance in the hope they lead police to “big drug bosses”.

For 30 years, crack has been the bane of this part of the capital, near Place Stalingrad, in the less glamorous northeast of the city. Since last year, city officials have stepped up efforts to curb the use of the drug: more police patrols, arresting dealers and providing housing for addicts. So far, however, it has all been in vain. For Paris is the capital of crack, he says: the only place in France where you can find it on sale, ready-made. Anywhere else, and you would have to "cook" it yourself, buying the cocaine then cutting it with sodium bicarbonate (baking soda), or ammonia. The city puts the number of crack users in Paris at 1,500. Police and prosecutors have resisted plans to set aside spaces for addicts where they can take their drugs away from public areas.

Every weekday morning, mental health clinician Carleigh Sailon turns on her police radio in downtown Denver and finds out who she can help next. She, along with a paramedic, jump in a repurposed city van, stripped of its blue lights and official insignia, and respond to 911 calls for people experiencing mental health crises, homelessness or drug addiction. Beginning this month, Denver’s emergency dispatch is sending social workers and health professionals, rather than police officers, to handle nonviolent situations. “If the police aren’t needed, let’s leave them out completely,” said Sailon, program manager for criminal justice services at the Mental Health Center for Denver. (See also: Addiction specialist: What defunding the police could mean for America’s drug epidemic)

Con relativa frecuencia, durante un paseo se nota la llegada del aroma inconfundible que desprenden las plantas de marihuana y eso ocurre tanto en zonas rurales como urbanas. Esa anécdota da la medida de hasta que punto el cultivo de esta planta ha arraigado en España, plataforma exportadora a toda Europa. Su producción se da en diferentes escalas; desde la de aquel que tiene una maceta para un supuesto autoconsumo, hasta la de la banda más profesionalizada y peligrosa. La maría reina ahora mismo por encima de la mayoría de drogas. Existen bandas extranjeras que optan por tener en España sus propias plantaciones con las que satisfacer la demanda de sus clientes en el país de origen.

Former Australian Federal Police boss Mick Palmer has said the prohibition of cannabis use “is not just failing, it is causing real harm” as he described his journey from a hard-nosed policeman to a vocal advocate for cannabis law reform. He said the widespread use of cannabis indicated fear of arrest was not working as a deterrent. In 2019, 37 per cent of Australians said they had used cannabis at least once. However, for those unfortunate enough to be arrested for use and possession of cannabis, Palmer said, the outcome could be a “severe, whole-of-life” punishment, with convictions having the ability to wreck people’s careers. (See also: A new leaf? Push for Victoria to lead the way on cannabis legalisation)

Con disparos desde helicópteros, vehículos blindados con soldados o a quemarropa, los oficiales de la policía de Río de Janeiro abatieron a 558 personas durante los primeros cuatro meses del año, la cantidad más grande desde que las autoridades comenzaron a llevar un registro hace más de dos décadas. Esta cifra reciente sucede después de años en los que las autoridades federales y locales instauraron políticas que disminuyeron los asesinatos a manos de la policía. Sin embargo, debido a que el país cayó en una profunda crisis económica y política en 2014, se agotaron los recursos para los programas de seguridad. Las bandas de delincuentes reclamaron los territorios que perdieron en Río, y estalló la violencia en todo Brasil: el año pasado fueron asesinadas más de 51.500 personas.

At least 122 children, including a one-year-old, have been killed during President Rodrigo Duterte’s “war on drugs” in the Philippines, according to a report that concluded some children have been deliberately shot at and targeted as proxies. The study, by the World Organisation Against Torture, adds to growing calls for the UN human rights council to establish an independent investigation into abuses committed under Duterte. Rights groups estimate that tens of thousands of people may have died as a result of unlawful killings during anti-drug operations launched after his election in 2016.

Drug trafficking and the corresponding ‘war on drugs’ are driving deforestation in Central America, two new reports published by Fundación Neotropica and the PRISMA Foundation think tank have found. Military efforts to tackle cocaine traffickers have instead pushed them into remote forests, where the shadowy underground economy they build has a devastating effect on the environment, the researchers said. The economic impact on the region’s protected forests is at least $215m per year, they found. The traffickers then clear forests to create hundreds of air strips to land planes full of cocaine coming from the Andes.

Despite knowing that they could be penalised under provisions of the Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985, for growing cannabis, villagers came out in the open to put conditions that they would stop cultivating the illicit crop if all Government welfare programmes were implemented in their locality. About 10,000 residents of 35 villages of Ralegada gram panchayats assembled at Dhuliput to put forth their 19-point demand. “We are not getting actual price for our agricultural produce. Most of the villagers of Ralegada and other neighbouring gram panchayats depend on cannabis cultivation. The money earned from cannabis cultivation helps us send our wards to distant places for education.” (See also: Ganja confiscation leads to overcrowding in Odisha jails | From Odisha to Rajasthan, cannabis trade on a new high)

Pascual Restrepo ha realizado varias investigaciones sobre la economía ilegal y los costos que ha tenido que pagar el país en el marco de la denominada lucha contra las drogas. La idea de fondo es tratar de entender por qué, a pesar de la gran cantidad de recursos invertidos, esta ha sido tan ineficiente. El experto economista explica cuáles pueden ser las razones del “fracaso parcial” del Plan Colombia y cuál debería ser la estrategia para reorientar el apoyo financiero internacional en un escenario de posconflicto. (Véase también: Hacia la segunda fase del Plan Colombia)

A mediados de agosto, el director de la Policía Nacional uruguaya, comisario Mario Layera, sacudió el avispero en plena campaña electoral cuando aseguró que la solución global al narcotráfico debía ir de la mano de la legalización y regulación del consumo y ya no en su tradicional faceta prohibicionista. Admitió luego que la ley 19.172 no cumplió con uno de sus cometidos más importantes: sacar al cannabis del conjunto de las sustancias que se trafican y así dar un golpe al narcotráfico. "Si hay más gente que quiere acceder legalmente y no puede, va a caer en otros modos. Creo que deberían habilitar el autocultivo, e incluso que los que cultivan puedan vender, que se arme una competencia y un mercado legal", propuso.

As the UNODC put it, this was “one of the largest and most successful counternarcotics operations” in Asia’s history. Myanmar’s army and police, which conducted the raids, are naturally pleased. But the story behind the raid is quite messy — one involving double-crossing traffickers, Chinese mafia and even the White House. Myanmar’s government has known about the labs for years. The same goes for the United States’ Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) and Chinese intelligence. Even The World knew it was there, writing in 2015 that the area contains “a number of heroin and meth refineries.” The labs went undisturbed because they were protected by a militia — one that happens to serve under Myanmar’s army.

Forty years ago, the Netherlands was far ahead of its time. But today we see the country moving backwards, as evidenced by a recent report on the drugs culture in Amsterdam. The authors of the report, believe that Dutch society is ‘undermined’ by organised drugs crime, though it’s hard to say what the evidence is to support these conclusions. A new ‘hard approach’ – rather similar to the old approach elsewhere in the world – with more police powers must be deployed, in addition to stigmatising users, the report’s authors argued. The ban on drugs does not have the support of the majority of the Dutch. Most use is not problematic and users would rather buy their goods in a legal market, with quality guarantees and tax revenues to be spent on the people who do get into trouble.

It’s not known exactly how many gangs there are in South Africa’s Western Cape province, but gang membership has been estimated at more than 100 000. Almost all these gangs, most concentrated in Cape Town, make the bulk of their money from procuring and selling illegal leisure drugs such as tik (crystal methamphetimine), heroin, nyaope (a street drug that mixes several illicit drugs) and dagga (marijuana). Herein lies the conundrum: the criminalisation of possession and use of drugs creates conditions that are conducive for organised crime. This is why understanding the use, misuse and trade of illegal drugs is central to any intervention involving gangs and any policy relating to them.

Activistas del cannabis en Uruguay realizó una “concentración y fumata” frente a la Suprema Corte de Justicia (SCJ) en reclamo por el “excesivo punitivismo ejercido por los operadores judiciales y policiales” sobre los autocultivadores de cannabis. Esta persecución se realiza en el marco legal generado por “la LUC [Ley de Urgente Consideración], el Nuevo Código del Proceso Penal y las instrucciones de fiscalía en referencia al combate al microtráfico”. “Tras haberse regulado en 2013 en nuestro país la producción y expendio de marihuana en flor, nos enfrentamos hoy por hoy a una política de seguridad pública y drogas con un pronunciado sesgo belicista y prohibicionista”, continúa la misiva. (Véase también: A través de un convenio con el Ircca, la Policía puede acceder sin intermediarios a las direcciones de los clubes cannábicos)

Founded in 1971 by squatters on an abandoned military base, Christiania was devised as a post-’60s anarchistic utopia, where people could live outside of Denmark’s market economy. Denmark’s government oscillated between attempting, without much success, to bring the community to heel or turning a blind eye as Christianites flouted property laws and drug laws. But now, after 50 years, with worsening gang violence and fresh attempts by the government to normalize the commune, some residents see their dream of an alternative society fading.

As Albania gears up for elections, one huge challenge facing the Balkan country has been low on the campaign agendas: the scourge of its cannabis fields, which threatens to hinder EU accession. Mountainous Albania is the main supplier of herbal cannabis trafficked to the European Union, says the bloc’s law enforcement agency, Europol. Despite Albania’s attempts to crack down on the illicit but lucrative trade, recent international reports said the scourge is yet to be brought under control – and that the criminal gangs behind it are escaping justice. (See also: Riding along with Albania's pot police | Albanian police go airborne for anti-cannabis offensive)

Despite all its promises, the Albanian government under Prime Minister Edi Rama has not managed to significantly reduce poverty in the country. Unemployment is high, welfare benefits are low - only 75 euros a month per family. Is that the reason why many Albanian farmers and the unemployed grow cannabis? "Thousands of Albanians have no alternative because social and economic measures to help rural regions are lacking," says Lulzim Basha, the leader of the opposition Democratic Party of Albania. "People are faced with the choice to either have no bread for their children or to work on cannabis farms. Many have chosen the second option."

El debate sobre la legalización del cannabis ha aterrizado en la política alemana: "Introduciremos la distribución controlada de cannabis para adultos con fines de consumo en tiendas autorizadas”, dice el acuerdo de coalición del actual gobierno federal, formado por los Verdes, liberales (FDP) y socialdemócratas (SPD). De aprobarse, la nueva ley podría afectar a muchas personas. El economista Julius Haucamp dijo que se calcula que cuatro millones de personas consumen cannabis en Alemania, la mayoría de ellas ocasionalmente. Aunque todas las señales apuntan hacia la legalización, cada tres minutos un consumidor de cannabis es penalizado en Alemania según la actual ley de estupefacientes.