How we think about, regulate, moralise or criminalise drugs is often not a response to domestic considerations, but a negotiation with global forces in an uneven international environment. Drug control in Lebanon is no exception to this rule. Its policies, since their inception, are the result of colonial and neo-colonial impositions and local resistance to these international impositions.

The colonial roots of drug policies are clear in Lebanon. The first drug control imperatives were introduced under the French mandate in the 1920s. In fact, the 1922 

 of the League of Nations that put Lebanon and Syria under French rule specifically mentions in article 12 that France will adhere, on behalf of the countries under its mandate, to conventions related to “drug trafficking” among other things.

The imposition of prohibitionist policies had to contend with the reality that 

 of Lebanon’s economy was reliant on cannabis. As a result of the decline of the silk industry in the early 20th century, many farmers resorted to cannabis cultivation, which had been part of the Lebanese agricultural landscape for centuries. French authorities were 

 by local politicians for prohibiting cannabis cultivation, which was a source of income for the villagers. Lacking power in the rural areas, and unwilling to alienate powerful landowners whose support they relied on, the French authorities resorted to a “

” implementation of drug policies, aimed at satisfying international requirements without ostracising domestic political forces.

The intersection of colonial impositions with local negotiations, resulting in performative drug control policies, would become the 

After its independence, Lebanon continued the French charade. After declaring that it would take drastic measures to curb hashish production during WWII, members of the British Security Mission who assisted Lebanese authorities 

 that they had to apply “considerable direct pressure . . . on a reluctant Gendarmerie” to get any action done.

The colonial legacy of drug control in Lebanon

 is a voluntary, anonymous survey run by the Agency and its partners. It is one of the Agency’s targeted ‘leading-edge’ monitoring methods and a key ingredient in the EMCDDA’s responsiveness to the ever-shifting drugs problem. Web-based surveys have the benefit of reaching people who use drugs directly. They are quick and relatively inexpensive, provide new data rapidly and can help spot emerging trends. If the same questions are used, along with a rigorous translation process, then these surveys can also allow for cross-national comparisons.

European Web Survey on Drugs: patterns of use

Ireland topped the EU table for drug deaths with more than four times the average number of fatalities, according to a new report by the EU drugs agency.

The European Drug Report 2024 shows that Ireland had 322 drug-induced deaths in 2020 — 97 deaths per million people, compared to the EU average of 22.5.

Ireland was ahead of Baltic and Nordic states, which, along with Ireland, traditionally have the highest rates. Estonia is in second place (95), followed by Norway (86).

Western European countries had far lower drug death rates than Ireland, including Germany (30), the Netherlands (26), Belgium (21), and Portugal (11).

the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction

 — expected later this year or early next year — is likely to be filled by far more powerful synthetic opioids such as nitazene which caused 

There have been record seizures of cocaine in the EU for the sixth year in a row, with 323 tonnes confiscated in 2022, compared to 303 tonnes in 2021;

There are growing concerns at the increasing strength of cannabis resin, the high-potency of cannabis extracts and edibles, including jellies, and the dangers posed by synthetic cannabinoids, the latter resulting in poisonings of children, including in Ireland.

Ireland is the worst EU country for drug deaths, suffering four times the average fatality rate 

President Cyril Ramaphosa has signed into law the Cannabis for Private Purposes Act (“CfPPA”). The CfPPA regulates the cultivation, possession, and use of cannabis by adults in a private setting.

The consequent regulatory reform enabled by the CfPPA will, amongst others, entirely remove cannabis from the Drugs and Drug Trafficking Act. This will further enable amendment of the Schedules to the Medicines and Related Substances Act and provide for targeted regulatory reform of the Plant Breeders Rights Act and the Plant Improvement Act, as well as other pieces of legislation that require amendment to allow for the industrialisation of the cannabis sector.

The Bill further guides the medically prescribed administration of cannabis to a child while also protecting children from undue exposure to cannabis. It provides for an alternative manner by which to address the issue of the prohibited use, possession of, or dealing in, cannabis by children, with due regard to the best interest of the child. It also prohibit the dealing in cannabis.

South African president assents to the Cannabis Private Purposes Bill

Data from the Mortality After Release from Incarceration Consortium (MARIC) study recorded 75 427 deaths. The all-cause crude mortality rates (CMR) during the first week following release (1612 [95% CI 1048–2287]) was higher than during all other time periods (incidence rate ratio [IRR] compared with week 2: 1·5 [95% CI 1·2–1·8], 

2=26·0%, weeks 3–4: 2·0 [1·5–2·6], 

2=53·0%, and weeks 9–12: 2·2 [1·6–3·0], 

The highest cause-specific mortality rates during the first week were due to alcohol and other drug poisoning (CMR 657 [95% CI 332–1076]), suicide (135 [36–277]), and cardiovascular disease (71 [16–153]). We observed considerable variation in cause-specific CMRs over time since release and across regions. Pooled all-cause CMRs were similar between males (731 [95% CI 630–839]) and females (660 [560–767]) and were higher in older age groups.

The markedly elevated rate of death in the first week post-release underscores an urgent need for investment in evidence-based, coordinated transitional healthcare, including treatment for mental illness and substance use disorders to prevent post-release deaths due to suicide and overdose. Temporal variations in rates and causes of death highlight the need for routine monitoring of post-release mortality.

 to read the full article (restricted access)

Rates and causes of death after release from incarceration among 1 471 526 people in eight high-income and middle-income countries: an individual participant data meta-analysis

Abuja, Nigeria: The West Africa Drug Policy Network (WADPN) is calling on the Nigerian Senate to drop the death penalty for drug-related offences and review the fifteen-year mandatory minimum sentence for drug use.

Nigeria's Senate in May 2024, proposed significantly toughening penalties for drug trafficking, making the death penalty the new maximum sentence through a law amendment. The amendment, which is not yet law, replaces life imprisonment that is previously the harshest punishment.

WADPN is concerned that the Nigerian Senate is introducing the death penalty for drug-related offences. Contrarily, this coincides with a significant global campaign against the death penalty and all forms of punishment for personal drug use and possession.

WADPN urges Nigerian senate to reconsider death penalty for drug offences

The International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) has re-elected Professor Jallal Toufiq as its President at its 140th session.

INCB commenced its 140th session on 20 May with a meeting of its Standing Committee on Estimates, which reviewed estimated requirements for controlled substances for medical, scientific and industrial purposes as submitted by governments.

On 22 May, the Board re-elected Professor Jallal Toufiq as its President and elected a new Bureau for a one-year term

International Narcotics Control Board re-elects President and elects new officers

This year’s meeting of the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs in Vienna marked a significant shift in policy when it agreed to focus on drug use as a public health issue that required an approach of harm reduction. This stance moves from the criminalization of drug use and brings the commission in line with the approach of the UN General Assembly, the World Health Organization, UNAIDS and the UN Office of Human Rights, all of which revised their policies a decade or more ago.

The annual meeting of the CND, as it’s known, helps set the direction of drug policy for UN member states, and in previous years it reflected the position of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, its parent entity. The focus was on suppressing the use of drugs and policing, which has not been successful, and I’ve been advocating for more than two decades for an evidence-based approach to address drug production and use.

The CND reached this new policy partly by discarding its past agreement that all its decisions need to be reached by consensus (the so-called “Vienna spirit”) and held votes on the resolutions for the first time. This allowed the shift to a harm-reduction policy, a term that was excluded from resolutions because of opposition from the handful of countries committed to the criminal justice approach.

Charting a new global course for dealing with illicit drug use

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency announced in late April 2024 that it plans to ease federal restrictions on cannabis, reclassifying it from a Schedule I drug to the less restricted Schedule III, which includes drugs such as Tylenol with codeine, testosterone and other anabolic steroids. This historic shift signals an acknowledgment of the promising medicinal value of cannabis.

The move comes in tandem with growing interest in the use of psilocybin, the active component in magic mushrooms, for treatment of depression, chronic pain and other conditions. In 2018 and 2019, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration granted a breakthrough therapy designation to psilocybin, meant to expedite drug development given that preliminary studies suggest it may have substantial therapeutic value over currently available therapies for treatment-resistant depression and major depressive disorder.

Both of these developments represent a dramatic change from long-standing federal policy around these substances that has historically criminalized their use and blocked or delayed research efforts into their therapeutic potential.

How cannabis and psilocybin might help some of the 50 million Americans who are experiencing chronic pain

Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin may mean well in attempting to re-list cannabis as a narcotic, but his aim only attests to his mediocre knowledge about the plant and the dilemma facing the country. 

Cannabis was decriminalised in 2022 by the Prayut Chan-o-cha administration. The liberalisation of the plant was the flagship election policy of Bhumjaithai, a coalition party, ahead of the 2019 polls.

Thailand has come far regarding its cannabis policy, and there is no point in reversing it. Mr Srettha should keep the right focus and, instead of over-reacting, recognise the main problem of cannabis in this country: its unregulated usage.


Mr Srettha should keep his promise of listening to all sides, and not rush to recriminalise the plant, but instead support laws that will control its usage.


Thailand: Control weed, don't kill it

Politicians and much of the media have been lying and whipping up a moral panic. And now, decriminalization in British Columbia is all but dead. In this episode, Garth talks with Crackdown senior producer Sam Fenn and VANDU organizer Hannah Dempsey to bring you the straight goods on why drugs have been re-criminalized and what the grim implications of this move are.

Recriminalization - Episode 45 - Crackdown Podcast

A newly formed Harm Reduction Coalition Aotearoa (HRCA) from New Zealand launched with an initial action of sending an open letter to the Prime Minister Christopher Luxon, signed by national and international organisations as well as drug policy specialists calling for the legal regulation of all drugs. Launching on International Harm Reduction Day (7 May), HRCA was established to end harmful prohibitionist drug policies that are maintained through the nation’s Misuse of Drugs Act 1975, and replace it with “fit-for-purpose” drug laws that are grounded in evidence, harm reduction and human rights.

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