Tag Archives: drugs

New York, United States | AFP | The US judge overseeing the New York trial of Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman ruled Thursday that the notorious drug baron could not hug his beauty queen wife, as requested, just before opening statements are to begin. Guzman has been held in solitary confinement …

New York, United States | AFP | Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman goes on trial in New York on Monday, accused of running the world’s biggest drug cartel and spending a quarter of a century smuggling more than 155 tons of cocaine into the United States. The mammoth trial in Brooklyn, …

Porto-Novo, Benin | AFP | A court in Benin on Thursday sentenced opposition politician Sebastien Ajavon to 20 years in prison on drugs charges and issued an international warrant for his arrest. The former presidential candidate was not at the hearing in the West African country’s administrative capital, Porto-Novo, which …

Manila, Philippines | AFP | With Canada on the verge of becoming the world’s second nation to legalise recreational marijuana, the head of the World Health Organization said Wednesday that countries should think twice before opening that door. WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, who was in the Philippines for a regional …

Abidjan, Ivory Coast | AFP | Nearly 400 tonnes of fake medicines have been seized over two years in Ivory Coast, whose main city Abidjan is a West African haven for counterfeit drugs, the health ministry said Tuesday. Counterfeit medicine is the scourge of Africa and the cause of around …

Abuja, Nigeria | AFP | Nigeria has banned cough syrups containing the painkiller codeine because of concern about misuse and addiction, the government said. Health Minister Isaac Adewole said the ban was introduced because of “the gross abuse codeine usage has been subjected to in the country”. The announcement late …

Harare, Zimbabwe | AFP | Zimbabwe has legalised production of cannabis for medicinal or scientific use, according to new regulations seen by AFP Saturday. A statutory instrument entitled Production of Cannabis for Medicinal and Scientific Use Regulations, said prospective producers can apply to the health ministry for a licence to …

United Nations, United States | AFP | Delivering a swansong address to the United Nations, Colombia’s President Juan Manuel Santos called Tuesday for a shift in the global approach to drug trafficking, which he described as the main threat to peace. Santos, who won the Nobel Peace Prize for negotiating an …

`Systematic drug repositioning’ seeks to make drugs developed for one illness capable of treating another COMMENT | ARIS PERSIDIS & ANDREAS PERSIDIS | Producing effective medicines requires huge investments of time and money. The average drug on the market today spent a decade in the lab and in clinical trials, and cost …

Mexico City, Mexico | AFP | Some 7,667 people were killed in Mexico in the first quarter of 2018, up 20 percent on the same period last year, making it the most violent year in two decades, government figures showed Sunday. In 2017, the figure stood at 6,406 violent deaths, …