More than $3 billion in cash has been openly flown out of Kabul International Airport in the past three years, a sum so large that U.S. investigators believe top Afghan officials and their associates are sending billions of diverted U.S. aid and logistics dollars and drug money to financial safe havens abroad.

wsj.com

The drugs, which originated in Panama, Colombia and Argentina, were hidden in shipments of scrap metal, flowers and in a large safe.

typicallyspanish.com

A Mexican singer - famous for his songs about the lives of drug barons - has been shot dead just hours after he denied reports of his murder.

lalate.com
wiki

Six people were executed as China prepared to mark a global anti-drug day, state press said Thursday.

The punishments, for four separate cases of manufacturing, smuggling and selling ketamine, methamphetamine, heroin and marijuana, bring to 14 the number of executions announced this week.

theprovince.com

I remember hearing 62 years ago that Robert Mitchum had been caught with a joint of marijuana in his suitcase, was arrested and his acting career ended. I remember thinking, “He’s done for, now — that devil weed has entered his brain, and it is all over for him.” Such was the power of public disinformation. In people of my generation, those concepts still hold true for many.

Every morning, we review the cases that come before the medical examiner’s office. During the past few years, more and more deaths are related to prescription drugs, often taken with legal prescriptions for opiates. In 2009, drug overdoses reportedly exceeded automobile deaths in 15 states. Some studies indicated deaths from ingesting multiple prescription drugs is up by 60 percent. This is partially fueled by the ever-increasing volume of advertisements for prescription drugs on television. Serotonin selective reuptake inhibitors (SSRI) are epidemic. You know them as drugs such as Prozac, Zoloft and Paxil. The costs to health care are enormous.

columbiatribune.com

Bin eben auf einen spannenden Artikel von Glen Greenwald zur Drogenpolitik Portugals gestoßen, den ich euch ans Herz legen möchte. Zunächst fasse ich aber erst einmal verschiedene mir bekannte Modelle der Drogenprohibition zusammen, um einen (evtl. unvollständigen) Überblick zu ermöglichen.

Die Situation in Deutschland sollte uns als Bürgern vergleichsweise gut bekannt sein, mit allen Problemen, die sie mit sich bringt. In Deutschland gibt es Drogen wie Alkohol und Tabak, auf die der Staat Steuern erhebt, deren Konsum, Besitz und Handel (unter bestimmten Auflagen) legal ist. Und es gibt illegale Drogen. Deren Konsum ist nicht verboten, Besitz und Handel aber sehr wohl.

tileo.wordpress.com

On July 1, 2001, a nationwide law in Portugal took effect that decriminalized all drugs, including cocaine and heroin. Under the new legal framework, all drugs were "decriminalized," not "legalized." Thus, drug possession for personal use and drug usage itself are still legally prohibited, but violations of those prohibitions are deemed to be exclusively administrative violations and are removed completely from the criminal realm. Drug trafficking continues to be prosecuted as a criminal offense.

cato.org
Drugs in Portugal: Did Decriminalization Work?