Working abroad can be a profitable option for members of criminal groups.
Since California passed the first medical marijuana law in 1996, 30 US states and the District of Columbia have legalised medical marijuana.
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Yu-Wei Luke Chu, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington
People opposing medical marijuana are often concerned about increased crime rates, but analysis of city-level data across the US found medical marijuana laws have little effect on crime.
Canada is on track to legalize marijuana on July 1. But why was it criminalized in the first place?
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld
Canada is legalizing marijuana on July 1. But how the drug became criminalized in the first place is an interesting saga that involves anti-Chinese racism and international influence.
Small quantities of drugs are getting past customs and then being used to create much bigger batches of illegal drugs like synthetic heroin.
Brazil’s jailhouse preachers may not explicitly condone violence against people of other faiths, but they’ve remained largely silent as their well-armed followers wage a holy war.
Reuters/Ricardo Moraes
Robert Muggah, Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro (PUC-Rio)
As hard-line Pentecostalism spreads across Brazil, some drug traffickers in gang-controlled areas of Rio de Janeiro are using religion as an excuse to attack nonbelievers.
An addict prepares heroin in Lamu on the east coast of Kenya.
Reuters/Goran Tomasevic
Despite the growth in darknet drug trading in Australia, there are important reasons why it is less harmful than street drug dealing.
Billions of dollars are lost yearly to illegal fishing, with West Africa being one of the worst-affected regions.
Commander, US Naval Forces Europe-Africa/U.S. 6th/Flickr
Ross William Ulbricht, the tech-savvy Texan who created the Silk Road, was sentenced to life in prison without parole on charges that equated him with a mafia boss.
The AFP revised the guidelines on international co-operation since alerting Indonesia to the Bali Nine but there is arguably still an imbalance between security and human rights considerations.
Indonesia is preparing to execute several foreign convicts for drug trafficking, and has rebuffed their countries’ pleas for clemency. That may be illegal.
Papering over the cracks of the war on drugs.
Agência Brasil
There are stories some people might not expect to read about Iran – and its progressive drugs policy is one. As a number of countries begin to slowly reconsider their approach towards illicit drugs, following…
Harsh immigration policy makes it hard to stop abuse of migrant children.
Richard Scott/PA
Over the past few years, policy-makers, academics and practitioners have paid more and more attention to children who are trafficked into and within the UK. But while children are trafficked for various…
Drug mules have barely been out of the UK news this August. First the “Peru two”, Melissa Reid from Scotland and Michaela Connolly from Ireland, were arrested attempting to leave Lima with just under 12kgs…