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

ISLAMABAD: Speakers at a conference organised by the Justice Project of Pakistan urged the government to introduce a drug policy that focuses on harm reduction, education, and medication to prevent deaths due to overdose and incentivise rehabilitation for substance use disorders.

Speaking at a plenary session ‘Effective Health and Harm Reduction Responses to Drug Use’, Syed Zulfiqar Hussain, a narcotics policy campaigner, said there were almost 6.7 million drug users in Pakistan and the country did not have an effective “harm reduction treatment” policy. In Lahore alone, there were over 7,000 homeless drug users with as many as 120 “hotspots”.

“There is no specialised treatment centre for women with drug dependence in Pakistan. People who use drugs deserve dignity, respect, and stigma-free care,” said Mr Hussain.

Amir Munir, additional district and sessions judge, said there was a need to develop a consensus regarding drug policy, particularly its legal aspect which treated substance users as pariahs.

Pakistan: Drug policy needs to focus on ‘harm reduction’ for effective response

 of settler colonialism by Canada, while their prohibition and attached criminalization have been used to 

Collective prohibitionist policies are key to the interlocking social relations of colonial control and capitalism under Canada. The carceral apparatus, which includes courts, prisons and provincial-level 

 systems, is largely powered by drug war-related charges, either through direct drug-related events, or the indirect violence generated by an unregulated drug market.

, Canada is overseeing a crisis of mass death due to the unregulated drug market now producing a contaminated and unpredictable supply in response to a century of shifting forms of 

 by drug opioid and stimulant drug poisonings between January 2016 and September 2023 in Canada (and 

 people died in the province of British Columbia alone from April 2016 to January 2024).

In Palestine, restrictions on substances have been employed as a tool of war by the settler state of Israel.


Undoing colonial carcerality everywhere: Palestine & the global drug war

KARACHI -- Pakistan is establishing a legal framework for cannabis trade after the government approved the herb for industrial uses nearly four years ago, hoping to capitalize on the booming market to increase its foreign exchange reserves.

A presidential order passed in February delineated rules for the formation of Pakistan's first Cannabis Control and Regulatory Authority. The government approved cannabis for industrial use in September 2020 but had not established a regulatory framework due to internal conflict.

"We are very serious about this initiative, and things are moving at a very fast pace," a senior official of the Special Investment Facilitation Council, which is spearheading government efforts to draw investments and overhaul the economy, told Nikkei Asia.

The new coalition government -- formed of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PMLN) and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) -- is setting up the regulatory body to formulate policies, such as issuing licenses to growers and sellers, and earmarking regions for cultivation, the official added.

Pakistan hopes to take advantage of its conducive growing conditions to enter the global cannabis market, that according to Indian research company MarketsandMarkets, will grow to $82.3 billion by 2027 from $27.2 billion in 2022. The country is seeking ways to increase exports and raise taxes to break its dependency on foreign loans and bailouts from the International Monetary Fund.

Pakistan sets cannabis rules, eyes sales to help balance books

The 16th annual report on the death penalty by Iran Human Rights and ECPM (Together Against the Death Penalty) provides an assessment and analysis of the death penalty trends in the Islamic Republic of Iran in 2023. It sets out the number of executions, the trend compared to previous years, the legislative framework and procedures, charges, geographic distribution, and a monthly breakdown of executions. Lists of the female and juvenile offenders executed in 2023 are also included in the tables.

The report also looks into the abolitionist movement within Iran, including the forgiveness movement and its contribution to reducing the use of the death penalty. It provides analysis on how the international community can contribute to limiting the scope of the death penalty in Iran.

The 2023 report is the result of hard work from Iran Human Rights members and supporters who took part in reporting, documenting, collecting, analysing, and writing its contents. Special gratitude is extended to Iran Human Rights sources inside Iran who incur significant risk by reporting on unannounced and secret executions in prisons of 30 different provinces. Due to the very difficult context, lack of transparency, and the obvious risks and limitations that human rights defenders face in the Islamic Republic of Iran, this report does not give a complete picture of the use of the death penalty in Iran. There are 46 reported executions which are not included in this report due to a lack of sufficient details or an inability to confirm cases through two different sources. However, it aims to provide the most complete and realistic figures possible in the present circumstances. The current report does not include suspicious deaths in custody, death row prisoners who died in prison before the executions, or those killed under torture.

ECPM supports the elaboration, editing process, publishing, and distribution of this report in the framework of its international advocacy work against the death penalty. The problems of transparency on the data and information about the death penalty in Iran should be overcome by a strong strategy of distribution and dissemination. The overall objectives of this report for Iran Human Rights and ECPM are to call attention to and publicise the facts, in order to change national and international views on the situation of the death penalty in Iran, the first executioner country in the world.

Death penalty in Iran: an appalling number of executions in 2023

There has been a growing concern about the misuse of pharmaceutical opioids in Africa, with some commentators describing it as part of a “global opioid crisis” (e.g. Kurth et al., 2018), ignoring the socio-historical peculiarities and contextually distinct materializations of these public health crises. Scholars have challenged this broad-brush approach through critical commentaries and original research (Klein et al., 2020; Klantschnig and Dele-Adedeji, 2021). Others have argued that conflating these distinct crises “blocks the path to rational regulatory reforms and public health strategies that could constructively address each crisis on its own terms” (Pettus and Radbruch, 2023, p. 2). A notable outcome of the global crisis narrative, according to Klantschnig and Dele-Adedeji (2021), and crucially for the purpose of this Special Issue, is the increased focus on the tramadol economy in Africa. The narrative has stirred political interests and enforcement-based responses across the continent and among international drug control agencies, who view the crisis as a “drugs” problem that should be addressed with law enforcement and bureaucratic controls (Klein et al., 2020). However, the wider social and structural drivers of opioids consumption on the continent are neglected, and the potential impacts of restrictive controls on health care remain poorly understood. This Special Issue aims to fill these knowledge gaps.

Tinasti and Outleb analyse opioid regulation in Morocco, showing how recent restrictive regulations are influenced by international frameworks and how they affect access to opioid analgesics for pain management and palliative care, as well as opioid agonist therapy. Ane-Loglo examines tramadol regulation in Ghana and six other African countries, showing how they impact the medical use of tramadol. Although tramadol is essential for managing pain in these countries, existing regulatory frameworks hinder access to these medicines. Onyima documents how street-involved young men in a south-eastern Nigerian city obtain opioids from street drug dealers and pharmacies and consume them by sniffing, popping and mixing tramadol with other drugs. These practices emerged in response to the threat of formal control. Nwafor and colleagues show how manual labourers in two south-eastern Nigerian cities consume tramadol to improve energy for work, pain relief and sexual performance. These consumption practices are contextualized by difficult working conditions and low access to pain management. Nelson and colleagues show how strict measures imposed by the Nigerian state on opioid supply due to public concerns about non-medical use among youth did not mitigate this practice. Instead, it constrains access to opioids for medical purposes and fuel police corruption. Dele-Adedeji and colleagues show how social relationships facilitate the illegal tramadol market in Nigeria, enabling market actors to resolve frictions between illegality and the social acceptability of tramadol. Last, but not the least, Otu and colleagues describe how domestic and international politics shape opioid control in Nigeria, reproducing punitive approaches that hinder access to opioids for medical purposes.

An overview of legal and policy barriers to opioid analgesics access and opioid agonist therapy in Morocco

Tramadol control measures and supply for health-care services: findings from Ghana and other West African countries

Prescription opioids, consumption cultures and “informal governing images” among “young street guys” in Nigeria

“It worked for my friend”: non-medical use of tramadol among manual labourers in Anambra state, Nigeria


Chidozie Edwin Nwafor, Chukwuemeka Felix A. Okoye, Nelson I. Nwankwo, Paschal Chukwuma Ugwu

Tramadol regulation, illegal markets and consumption practices: exploring frictions of drug control in Nigeria


Ediomo-Ubong Nelson, Ogochukwu Winifred Odeigah, Emeka W. Dumbili

Resolving friction in the tramadol economy in Nigeria


Ini Dele-Adedeji, Lala Ireland, Gernot Klantschnig

Beyond evidence and reality: the politics, political economy and fallout of hawkish regulatory policy on prescription drugs in Nigeria


Smart E. Otu, Macpherson Uchenna Nnam, Mary Juachi Eteng, Ijeoma Mercy Amugo, Babatunde Michel Idowu

Drinking to cope and college grade point average


Morgan A. Douglass, Madison L. Colley, Alexander J. Tyskiewicz, Mark A. Prince

Ayahuasca ceremonies: set and setting features across Italy and Colombia


Federica Ambrosini, Laura Pariset, Roberta Biolcati

Family ties: examining family functioning and alcohol use among American Indian youth


Morgan A. Douglass, Meghan A. Crabtree, Linda R. Stanley, Randall C. Swaim, Mark A. Prince

Frictions in drug control: prescription opioids, prohibition and consumption cultures in Africa

Since 7 October 2023, the attention of the international community has been drawn to Israel and Palestine, where war has escalated dramatically. The war has also occupied a central stage at the proceedings of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND) held from 23rd to 25th October, and it is likely to have an important role in the coming meetings of the CND.

Following the precedent of prior contributions on the situation in Ukraine, CSFD aims to gather information from civil society organisations from the region on the impact of the ongoing war on drug services and the situation of people who use drugs in Palestine. This submission collates some extracts from correspondence with NGOs in the region until 10 November 2023, background information, and recommendations by international bodies. 

The CSFD urges the EU institutions and the HDG to monitor closely the situation in the region, and to ensure that the continuity of drug services and of access to medicines is part of both the EU’s humanitarian response and of its interventions at the CND and other international fora.

The full submission can be accessed under 'Downloads'.

Contribution from the Civil Society Forum on Drugs in the EU on the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Palestine

We are pleased to invite you to participate in the 

Africa regional civil society consultation

Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND) Mid-term review in 2024

 in the margins of the African Union High-level conference on addressing substance use and related mental health disorders, which will be held in Lusaka, Zambia, from 08 to 10 November 2023.

You can join the consultation either online or in person, depending on your preference, availability and resources.

The CND Mid-term review is a process that aims to assess the implementation of the 2019 Ministerial Declaration on strengthening actions at the national, regional and international levels to accelerate the implementation of joint commitments to address and counter the world drug problem. The review will also identify challenges and gaps, as well as best practices and lessons learned, in order to inform future actions and strategies.

Please note that those wishing to participate in-person 

 to cover all costs related to the meeting, such as travel, accommodation or internet access. You are encouraged to seek the support of your organization.

If you are interested in participating in this consultation, 

please fill out this online registration form by 14 October 2023

. You will receive a confirmation email with further details and instructions on how to join the consultation.

Africa civil society regional consultation in the lead up to the CND mid-term review

It was my first time visiting South Africa. My first impressions about the country were mixed. I was astonished by the abundance of natural beauty. Table Mountain, a sacred site for the original inhabitants of this land, dominates the landscape, with a splendid view from the top to the meeting point of two oceans. But I was also shocked by the extreme social inequalities that are very much visible as you cross the town. I have seen inequality before but nowhere so sharp and definite than in South Africa. I learned later that it is the most unequal society on Earth.

Even though Apartheid may be officially over, the poverty line (often but not always corresponding with the colour line) divides society. There are those who have – and those who have not. Those who have protect their property with barbed wire, CCTV, security guards, and high fences. And those who have nothing often sleep on the street, a few blocks from the luxury palaces and hotels of the rich, unprotected and exposed to extreme cold and heat, to hunger and sickness, to unhealed wounds and unprocessed childhood trauma.

It is a no brainer that drug use is very polarised, just like everywhere else in the world where society is so unequal.. The upper and middle-classes use good quality drugs, mostly to relax, to play, and to enhance pleasure. They are rarely bothered by the police, they have access to good health care, and they have a strong social network that holds them even when they lose control. But those who were born on the wrong side of the poverty line often use cheaper and lower quality substances to forget and ease the pain and desperation of everyday life. They are often arrested by police, get imprisoned, and experience discrimination at all levels of health and social care.

For a long time, the response of South Africa to illicit drugs was very one-dimensional: tough law enforcement and abstinence-based treatment. But as we learned, inevitable social change forces its way forward, thanks to the unwavering efforts of civil society. In the past ten years, peer activists, professional service providers, and researchers, with the support of international donors, were able to set up the first harm reduction programs, including opioid agonist treatment sites. The Constitutional Court, in its 2018 judgement, found that criminalisation of cannabis (or dagga, as locals call it) use and cultivation for personal use is unconstitutional. Decriminalisation of sex work is on the agenda of the parliament.

In our movie we salute the courage and creativity of SANPUD, the 

, a community-driven organisation that is an inspiration and a beacon of hope not only in Africa but for us, living in other parts of the world.

Text and interviews: Péter Sárosi
Video: István Gábor Takács

Putting People First - The Africa Policy Week 2023 in a snapshot

Join us for a Zoom webinar on October 9, 2023, from 2:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. Beirut time, as we explore the mental health status and needs of key populations in the MENA Region. 

 to secure your spot and gain valuable insights into this critical topic.

Don't miss out on this informative session!

Mental health status and needs of key populations in the MENA region

Responding to the hanging of five people by the Kuwaiti authorities yesterday including one convicted of a drug-related offence, Rawya Rageh, Amnesty International’s Interim Deputy Director for the Middle East and North Africa, said:

“The Kuwaiti government has now executed a dozen people in less than a year, claiming a to be ‘tough on crime’ approach that panders to people’s worst instincts. The execution of one man for a drug-related offence violates international law which prohibits the use of the death penalty for such an offence.

It is deeply disappointing that Kuwait has returned to executions with such vigour and particularly when they had paused executions for five years starting 2017.

There is no credible evidence that such executions by the state have a greater deterrent effect on crimes than prison terms. Amnesty International calls on the Kuwaiti authorities to immediately establish an official moratorium on executions with a view to abolishing the death penalty.”

Kuwait: Five hanged as Kuwait continues execution spree into second year 

Iranian authorities have executed at least 173 people convicted of drug-related offences this year after systematically unfair trials, nearly three times more than this time last year, Amnesty International said today.

Executions for drug-related offences make up two thirds of all the executions carried out in Iran in the first five months of 2023 and have predominantly impacted people from marginalized and economically disadvantaged backgrounds. Members of Iran’s persecuted and impoverished Baluchi ethnic minority account for around 20 per cent of the recorded executions despite making up only five per cent of Iran’s population.

“The shameless rate at which the authorities are carrying out drug-related executions, in violation of international law, exposes their lack of humanity and flagrant disregard for the right to life. The international community must ensure that cooperation in anti-drug trafficking initiatives do not contribute, directly or indirectly, to the arbitrary deprivation of life and other human rights violations in Iran,” said Diana Eltahawy, Amnesty International’s Deputy Director for the Middle East and North Africa.

“States and intergovernmental bodies must condemn the Iranian authorities, in the strongest terms, for these arbitrary executions, call for an official moratorium on all executions, send representatives to visit prisoners sentenced to death, and seek attendance at trials involving capital crimes. Given the crisis of impunity for mass arbitrary executions, they must also urgently pursue meaningful pathways for accountability.”

This year, the authorities have also significantly increased the number of overall executions for all crimes, with at least 282 people executed in total so far in 2023 – this is nearly double the number of executions that were recorded at the beginning of June last year. If the authorities continue to carry out overall executions at this alarming pace, they could kill nearly a thousand prisoners by the end of this year.

Middle East / North Africa