Muslims make up 9% of France’s population and half of all its prisoners – many convicted on drug charges. But social justice isn’t part of the country’s growing debate on legalization.
The conviction of Mexican drug kingpin Joaquín Guzmán Loera, who evaded justice in Mexico, is a win for US officials. But it’s a pyrrhic victory in the war on drugs.
With its tales of bloody violence, corruption, international trade and entrepreneurial innovation, Guzmán’s trial offers a telenovela-style explainer on Mexican cartels and their American clients.
Two-thirds of all US states now have some kind of legal pot, and support for legalization has never been higher. But ballot initiatives can only take legalization so far, researchers say.
Midterm voters in Utah, Missouri, Michigan and North Dakota will decide whether to join the 31 US states that have some form of legal marijuana. But ballot initiatives can only take pot so far.
Canadian drug policy began to take shape well before anti-immigration attacks on Chinese establishments in 1908. Drugs like opium and coke were causing grave public health concerns.
Mexico’s presidential front-runner wants to end violence in Mexico by pardoning drug traffickers and corrupt officials. Some 235,000 people have died in the country’s 11-year cartel war.
The evidence is clear on the sort of support that is needed to reduce the harms of drug use. A punitive approach that denies people a second chance makes it more likely they will reoffend.
Just seven countries worldwide regularly execute people for drug crimes, most of them authoritarian regimes. Nothing suggests that this brutal policy actually curbs drug use.
The cost of a life-saving drug in Canada is rising by 3,000 per cent. A national pharmacare plan could bring order to this chaotic world of Canadian drug prices.
As the nation grapples with its opioid addiction epidemic, an understanding of how the drugs affect people is important. The powerful class of drugs actually can change the brain.