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Xylazine can cause skin ulcers and overdoses and has caused multiple deaths since 2022, warn researchersPeople buying cannabis vapes and illicit sedatives to treat pain, anxiety and insomnia risk unknowingly consuming a powerful animal tranquilliser that can cause skin ulcers and overdoses.Xylazine has been prevalent in the US for several years, where it is commonly found mixed with strong opioids, such as heroin or...

Europe has been ‘negligent,’ as an acceptance of cocaine and cannabis leads to corruption, violence, and misery, says AboutalebThe mayor of a city on the frontline of the illegal drug trade has said that a “negligent” attitude to recreational drug use, including an acceptance of cocaine as the middle-class narcotic of choice, has led to violence and corruption in Europe’s poorest neighbourhoods.As the Netherlands...

Jarrad Antonovich died after drinking plant-based psychedelic and having frog toxin extract ‘kambo’ dabbed into burnsGet our morning and afternoon news emails, free app or daily news podcastThe ceremonial leader of a spiritual retreat in northern New South Wales at which a man died after drinking ayahuasca may have told witnesses not to talk about the fatal ceremony, a coroner has heard.The second sitting...

Teenagers are coerced into committing crime for someone else’s benefit, according to social justice groupsAlmost half of the victims of criminal exploitation in the UK are British boys aged under 18, according to a report calling for new laws to acknowledge them as ­victims of modern slavery.The analysis, by the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) thinktank and the charity Justice and Care, found that...

It is the second time in less than two years the Caribbean archipelago is seeing escalating violence, attributed to warring drug gangsThe United Kingdom is sending specialist assistance to the Turks and Caicos Islands (TCI) following a surge in shooting deaths in the Caribbean archipelago.Four men were found dead from gunshot wounds on the island of Providenciales on 1 and 2 February, and two...

Bloc plans to bulk-buy key drugs for all 27 countries, potentially leaving Britain ‘behind in the queue’The EU is to stockpile key medicines that will worsen the record drug shortages in the UK, with experts warning that the country could be left “behind in the queue”.The EU is seeking to safeguard its supplies by switching to a system in which its 27 members work...

As cartels and crime syndicates flock to Ecuador for cocaine trade profits, its murder rate has soared, with a TV station assault the crescendo of a week of bloodshedPolitical upheaval and street protests, gun battles and floods. José Luis Calderón has seen it all during his 23 years as one of Guayaquil’s top television journalists. Never had the Ecuadorean reporter been the story himself.That...

Move is latest in round of executive clemencies meant to rectify racial disparities in the justice systemJoe Biden is pardoning thousands of people who were convicted of use and simple possession of marijuana on federal lands and in the District of Columbia, the White House said Friday – his latest round of executive clemencies meant to rectify racial disparities in the justice system.The US...