Mexico’s murder rate broke a new record in 2018 as the country’s drug war dragged on and criminal groups fought for control of an increasingly diversified range of illegal activities.

Figures released this week by the country’s public safety secretariat show that 28,816 homicide case files were opened in 2018, a 15% increase over the previous year.

In recent years, violence has exploded in previously peaceful areas of the country such as Quintana Roo state, which registered 763 homicides in 2018 – double the 2017 figure.

Conflict in Quintana Roo – home of the Caribbean resort cities of the “Mexican Riviera” – has been attributed to a struggle for smuggling routes and local drug markets, but in other regions, violence has been driven by other illegal markets.

Mexico's murder rate broke new record in 2018 as drug war drags on

Myo Min knows all too well about the negative effects of excessive drug use. He started using methamphetamines more than a decade ago after being pressured to try it by some friends, and quickly graduated to heroin.

Since then, he has seen it all: sleepless nights, failing health, fights with his family, paranoia, and tragedy. Several years ago, a close friend became so paranoid from using drugs that he jumped from the fourth floor of a building to his death.

Despite all of this, Myo Min hasn’t managed to get himself completely clean.

“It is much easier now to buy yaba compared to before,” he said, referring to Thai word for the cheap methamphetamine pill. “I sometimes use yaba now, although not as much as before. Now I think I have things more under control.”

Myo Min’s experience is not unique in Myanmar, where health workers say that drug use is becoming increasingly common in many communities across the country.

Why Myanmar can’t shake its drug problem

The lower house of the Philippines Congress has approved a bill to legalise medical cannabis consumption and production, which has the support of hard-line President Rodrigo Duterte.

On 29 January, the House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed the final reading of House Bill 6517 - the Philippine Compassionate Medical Cannabis Act - which would permit patients to use medical cannabis if they are diagnosed with certain debilitating conditions and prescribed the drug by a licensed doctor. Qualifying medical conditions include cancer, glaucoma, multiple sclerosis, PTSD, and being HIV-positive.

Doctors will only be able to issue prescriptions for medical cannabis if they are individually authorised to do so by the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA), state media says. The bill would also create specialised facilities tasked with acquiring and dispensing medical cannabis.

The bill would allow for the domestic cultivation of cannabis. The bill states that the Dangerous Drugs Board shall "identify specific areas allowable for the cultivation of cannabis [... that] shall only be permitted in a closed, locked facility" that is a sufficient distance from schools.

The bill would create an advisory committee to devise and implement regulations, and would permit several research institutions – including the University of the Philippines’ National Institute of Health – to investigate uses of medical cannabis.

Philippines House of Representatives approves medical cannabis use, production

People in Bangladesh now face execution for a range of non-violent drug offences.

The Narcotics Control Act 2018, which came into effect on 27 December, mandates either the death penalty or life imprisonment for anyone convicted of committing a range of drug offences. Such crimes include trading or producing over 25 grams of heroin or cocaine, and trading or producing over 200 grams of methamphetamine (colloquially known as "yaba"), 

 reports. Trading or producing less than 200 grams of methamphetamine, or less than 25 grams of cocaine or heroin, will now be punished by between two and 10 years imprisonment.

, "when any person is sentenced to death, the sentence shall direct that he be hanged by the neck till he is dead".

According to Harm Reduction International, the last known death sentence for a drug offence in Bangladesh was in 2009. That now looks set to change.

Bangladesh to begin hanging people for non-violent drug offences

Bill Barr, President Donald Trump’s nominee for US attorney general, told the Senate on Tuesday he would not bust marijuana businesses that abide by state legalization laws.

“I don’t think it’s appropriate to upset those interests,” Barr told the Senate Judiciary Committee in a confirmation hearing, citing a policy of tolerance toward marijuana established under the Obama administration.

A 2013 memo by former deputy attorney general James Cole placed a low priority on licensed businesses that stuck to a set of guidelines — like stopping pot from crossing state lines, funding cartels, or falling into the hands of minors — in states with legalization laws.

US Attorney General nominee says he’s “not going after” marijuana in states where it’s legal

By University of Michigan | Medical Xpress

Researchers know that lesbian, gay and bisexual individuals are more likely than heterosexuals to use alcohol, tobacco or other drugs, but until now they didn't know to what degree.

New research out of the University of Michigan provides that context by examining the severity of alcohol, tobacco and other drug abuse reported by lesbian, gay and bisexual individuals, and people who aren't sure how they identify.

The study confirms that substance use disorders are more prevalent—and more severe—among sexual minorities in the United States, said lead researcher Carol Boyd, U-M professor of nursing.

"Our findings provide strong evidence that a higher proportion of sexual minority individuals, particularly bisexual individuals and those who are not sure of their sexual identities, have severe alcohol and tobacco use disorders, and those who are 'not sure' also have a higher proportion of severe drug use disorders," said Boyd, who's also the director of the Center for Drugs, Alcohol, Smoking and Health.

Sexual minorities more likely to suffer severe substance use disorders

As cannabis reform sweeps the Caribbean, Trinidad and Tobago has announced it will hold public consultations on the matter, prior to decriminalising the drug for personal use in June 2019.

In late December, Prime Minister Keith Rowley announced that cannabis would be decriminalised across the Caribbean nation by mid-2019, but that the government had no plans to legalise the drug.

“We expect that by May to June of 2019, the decriminalisation would have been effected", he told journalists. “There is a big difference between decriminalisation and legalisation of marijuana. We have committed to decriminalisation. What we are working on now is the method by which and what that represents in terms of the use”.

However, a recent statement from the Attorney General hinted that legalisation may indeed be on the cards, as authorities consult with public stakeholders to configure the most appropriate form of cannabis reform.

Trinidad and Tobago to decriminalise cannabis, consider legalisation

High Wire is Maia Szalavitz's reported opinion column on drugs and drug policy.

Stories about cannabis are like catnip, so it was only matter of time before someone with an aura of credibility decided to capitalize on the growing consensus in favor of legalization with an extreme contrarian perspective. And what could better troll the legalizers than arguing, in essence, that Reefer Madness is real—and pot really does cause insanity, murder, and mayhem?

Enter former New York Times reporter Alex Berenson, whose new book Tell Your Children: The Truth about Marijuana, Mental Illness and Violence, attempts to do just that. Its main title is literally taken from the original name for that much-mocked 1936 film.

All the things the new anti-weed crusade gets horribly wrong

The partial government shutdown is now in its 21st day, with efforts to reopen stymied by Democrats' and Republicans' disagreement over whether to allot $5.7 billion to the construction of physical barriers at the United States–Mexico border. Among President Donald Trump's explanations for a wall: It will slow the flow of drugs into the U.S. and prevent some of the tens of thousands of overdose deaths the country suffers every year.

But is a wall really an effective defense against the drug trade?

Reporting from Pacific Standard and other organizations suggests no. As Trump correctly suggests, Mexico is the immediate previous stop for most of the illicit drugs that enter America. But traffickers don't tend to send their products over the border along the places where Trump would build a wall, as Pacific Standard's Jack Herrera previously reported.

How drugs pour into the United States from Mexico

By Patricia Chulver Benitez | Acción Semilla Foundation

2018 was a year with significant advances in the regulation of some controlled substances at the international level of drug policy and it is necessary to analyze the trends to understand the steps that Bolivia must take if it wishes to advance with its regulatory policy with a view to the international claim of the coca leaf and the possibilities of export.

As a first success we can mention Uruguay with its Law No. 19172 which regulates the production, distribution and sale of cannabis and whose effectiveness is measured in terms of the rights of people who use drugs by providing an effective health response from public health. It is followed by Canada, the first G7 country to legalize the recreational use of the same plant, and Mexico, which recently presented its proposal for a General Law for the Regulation and Control of Cannabis.

These countries (along with others for 2020 initiatives such as New Zealand) hope to reach trade agreements between parties as the international context allows for new legal alternatives that do not break with the conventions and do not depend on consensus in the larger drug policy decision scenarios. The first alternative is the “Inter Se” treaties and the second is based on requesting a critical review from the World Health Organization (WHO).

Bolivia, the coca leaf and the new horizons of plants banned from international markets

While the Hungarian politicians, similarly to other populist forces in Europe, falsely claim that migrants brings disease, they ignore the evidence about what really works in stopping disease.

In an interview to a pro-government newspaper, Bence Rétvári, the Secretary of State for Public Administration of the Hungarian government, declared that “mass migration does not only pose risk in regard to terrorism, public security, the preservation of our culture or overburdening social care, but also for the whole public health system.” He backed this claim with two arguments. His first argument was that migration brings “huge extra expenditure” to the public health care system. His second argument was that migrants “endanger” Europe by bringing disease and infections. Both arguments are often used by populist politicians because they seem to be compelling to people who don’t know much about the subject. The only problem with these arguments is that they are not only unsubstantiated by epidemiological research, but are deemed to be wrong and dangerous beliefs by researchers.

A recent example is a scientific commission comprised of leading health experts, convened by the world’s most prestigious public health journal, The Lancet. The UCL-Lancet Commission published its report about the public health impact of migration in December last year. “We come to the conclusion that there is no evidence migrants are contributing to any harmful effects on the health of the countries. If anything, they are adding a lot of value,” said a member of this Commission to the press. According to the report, it is primarily the young and healthy people who undertake a risky journey to start a new life in another country and they have lower mortality and morbidity rates than the host societies in Europe. That means net benefits for the public health system in the ageing Europe. Most of the health damage migrants suffer from can be linked to stigma and discrimination; politicians should focus on breaking down these barriers instead of scaremongering.

Hungary: Migrants are not responsible for spreading disease – but bad policies are

Uganda Harm Reduction Network calls for a quick intervention in the human rights violations against people who use drugs and other psychotropic substances.

This follows the brutal arrest humiliation and detention of 17 drug users including foreign signatories by police on allegations of using drugs in different bars on 5th/01/2019 in Kabalagala Suburbs of Kampala. UHRN works to advocate for practical interventions aimed at supporting and addressing issues of human rights violations among people who use drugs.

We are deeply concerned by the deteriorating circumstances in which punitive enforcement of laws including; inhuman treatment and torture of drug users undermines their public health While there are no express provisions in the constitution protecting drug users` rights, there are basic protections that are enshrined in the constitution and in the laws of Uganda which protect the rights of all persons.

For instance; The right to freedom from inhuman and degrading treatment: the constitution in Article 24 requires respect for human dignity and provides that no person shall be subjected to any form of torture, cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment. This provision finds particular application in the context of arrests of drug users

Article 20 (1) of the convention on Psychotropic Substance of 1971 requires all state parties to take all practical measures for the prevention of abuse and psychotropic substances and for the early identification, treatment and education after care rehabilitation and social reintegration of all persons who use drugs.

The Uganda Harm Reduction Network is concerned that the criminalization and increased brutal arrests and degrading treatment of drug users will continue to push people who use drugs into the shadows since the government has positioned drug use as a criminal justice issue rather than a health issue.

We call for: Respect of the rights of people who use drugs; A human rights and public health approach in dealing with drug use; and Adoption of harm reduction interventions for people who use drugs

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