Latin America’s spike in violence is the result of systemic problems that have long gone unaddressed.
In 2014, US Coast Guard vessels seized four tons of cocaine and other drugs in what was then considered a “big” bust. Seizures have continued to climb, only to be outstripped by production.
Connie Terrell/US Coast Guard
Khalid Tinasti, Graduate Institute – Institut de hautes études internationales et du développement (IHEID) e Yong-an Zhang, Shanghai University
Drug seizures are on the rise, but so too are production, consumption, trafficking and violence. The current drug control regime is showing its limits, yet the changes needed require consensus.
Some people take the new drugs to prolong sex.
PIUS UTOMI EKPEI/AFP via Getty Images
People in Nigeria are creating new drugs either because they can’t afford more traditional narcotics, because they’re not controlled or because they’re strong.
An Afghan boy collects raw opium east of Kabul, Afghanistan, in 2018.
(AP Photo/Mohammad Anwar Danishyar)
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.
Mortality data show only the final result of opioid overdose, not why it happens.
Skyward Kick Productions/Shutterstock.com
The toll of the opioid epidemic is often derived from toxicology reports. These rely on drug tests. A medical historian explains these tests and how they fall short of capturing why people are dying.
Chris Burkett deposits old needles at a needle exchange program in Aberdeen, Wash., June 14, 2017.
AP Photo/David Goldman
Opioids kill 100 people each day in the US, more than vehicular accidents. Those addicted are often left without treatment. An addiction researcher offers six steps to address the epidemic.
Even a tiny amount of fentanyl can be fatal, but the drug is turning up in batches of heroin the UK.
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Chercheur au Center on Conflict, Development and Peacebuilding, Graduate Institute – Institut de hautes études internationales et du développement (IHEID)