World News Gibraltar seizes €15m worth of cannabis resin after sea pursuit Authorities in Gibraltar seized 2.6 metric tons of cannabis resin with a street value of €15 million after a high-speed chase at sea. 18/08/2021
China Chinese court upholds death sentence for Canadian drug convict A Chinese court on Tuesday rejected a Canadian drug convict's appeal of a death sentence, in what appeared to be an effort to step up pressure on Canada to release a detained executive of tech giant Huawei. 10/08/2021
United Kingdom Drug-related deaths in England and Wales at highest level since 1993 About half of the deaths involved opiates. 03/08/2021
Health news Olympic athletes are using CBD. Here's why it's controversial US footballer Megan Rapinoe promotes CBD products as part of her training regime. At the same time, Sha’Carri Richardson was barred from Tokyo 2020 after testing positive for marijuana. 31/07/2021
Tech News Euroviews. Cannabis, nicotine and psychedelics could be key to healthcare In this Rethink piece, Shane MacGuill, Nicotine & Cannabis global lead at Euromonitor International argues that illegal drugs including psychedelics could open the doors to more effective healthcare treatments. 15/07/2021
France US rapper Lil Baby released and fined for carrying drugs in Paris NBA star James Harden was also stopped and searched by Paris police but was not detained. 09/07/2021
Germany Hundreds arrested in Germany after encrypted chat data bust German security officials have arrested more than 750 people and seized large amounts of drugs after gaining access to encrypted mobile phone data. 06/07/2021
USA J&J agrees to pay $230M to settle New York opioid claim Johnson & Johnson has agreed to pay $230 million (€192.6 million) to New York state to settle claims that the pharmaceutical giant helped fuel the opioid crisis. 27/06/2021
Philippines ICC prosecutor seeks to probe Philippines' crackdown on drug crime The prosecutor of the International Criminal Court said a preliminary probe "determined that there is a reasonable basis to believe that the crime against humanity of murder has been committed" in the Philippines. 15/06/2021
World News Encrypted messaging app leads to 800 arrests in organised crime groups Police accessed 27 million messages over 18 months using an encrypted messaging app. The evidence led to more than 800 arrests in global sting against organised crime 08/06/2021
Brazil Brazil: Rio's deadly police shootout prompts claims of abuse 25 people died in a massive police raid against drug traffickers in a Brazilian favela. 07/05/2021
Tech News High flier: Silicon Valley CEO Justin Zhu fired for taking LSD at work Justin Zhu, CEO of Iterable, said he took small amounts of the illegal psychedelic drug in 2019 to improve his focus and creativity. 29/04/2021
Greece Four tonnes of cannabis found in cupcake-making machines The street value of the drugs is estimated at around €33 million. 23/04/2021
Australia Former Olympian guilty of plotting to smuggle €130 million of cocaine Nathan Baggaley, a three-time world champion canoeist, was found guilty alongside his brother of trying to smuggle 650 kilos of cocaine into Australia in 2018. 02/04/2021
Spain Police seize drug 'submarine' designed to smuggle narcotics into Spain Similar drug-smuggling vessels have in the past been discovered at sea, especially near Central and South America. 12/03/2021
World News Dozens held after Belgian-Dutch investigators crack coded network The vast police operations followed a two-year investigation which broke up an encrypted communications network popular with criminals. 10/03/2021
World News Scottish and English drinkers most frequently drunk, study suggests The findings were part of the Global Drug Survey 2020, which included data from 110,000 people from 25 countries. 25/01/2021
No Comment Police in Peru carry out drug-related arrest in Santa and elf disguise Members the National Police of Peru disguised themselves as Santa Claus and an elf during a police operation in Lima. 17/12/2020
United Kingdom Men arrested after accidentally showing police video of cannabis farm One of the men went to open Google Translate on his phone to help him communicate with the officers but ended up showing them a video of a cannabis farm instead. 15/12/2020
USA US House of Representatives votes to decriminalise marijuana Fifteen states already authorise recreational marijuana use and 36 allow it for medical use, but federal laws banning the drug make it difficult for companies to trade 05/12/2020