Central American country says its president spoke with Pete Hegseth to confirm terms of cooperation
Guatemala has requested US military cooperation spanning access to equipment, training and experts to assist Guatemalan operations against drug trafficking, the country’s president, Bernardo Arévalo, said on Thursday.
The joint plans stopped short of US military operations on Guatemalan soil and fall within existing bilateral agreements, the government noted.
Continue reading...First responders hospitalized and decontaminated after four people were found apparently overdosing
Three people died and 18 first responders were sickened by exposure to fentanyl in a rural New Mexico home this week, New Mexico state police said.
Police initially found four people unconscious at the home in Mountainair, 90 miles (145km) east of Albuquerque. Two were declared dead at the scene and a third died at a hospital.
Continue reading...All victims of US strikes in eastern Pacific and the Caribbean identified so far came from extremely poor communities
A five-month investigation has named 13 previously unidentified victims of US attacks on boats allegedly carrying narcotics in a campaign that has killed nearly 200 people in the Caribbean and the eastern Pacific.
It is unclear if the US has ever identified any of its 194 victims before attacking them, and the names of just three had previously emerged, after their families launched legal cases against the White House.
Continue reading...Contradictory policies that gut harm reduction programs while supporting naloxone access are confusing experts
Within just a few weeks, the Trump administration has proposed multiple contradictory policies related to overdose prevention – some that could help save lives and others that experts say could further strain health resources and put people at risk for overdose.
These policies include a new prohibition on funding for fentanyl test strips, which help people avoid overdoses; proposed budget cuts that would gut the country’s overdose prevention efforts; and an ambitious drug control strategy that will be impossible to implement if the aforementioned cuts go through.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Regime, which executed 243 people last year for drug offences, accused of investing in entertainment to whitewash its human rights record
The acclaimed Australian film-maker Phillip Noyce is being paid by the Saudi regime to make a feature film portraying the repressive state’s narcotics officers as heroes.
The Watchful Eyes, based on a real Saudi ministry of interior narcotics case, is billed as a dramatic depiction of the “heroism of security men in combating drugs”.
Continue reading...Justice department targets MacArthur Park, which has long struggled with fentanyl use, overdoses and homelessness
Federal authorities arrested 18 people in Los Angeles in a crackdown on drugs in MacArthur Park, the Department of Justice announced on Wednesday.
The DoJ said it was targeting an “open-air drug market” in the park near downtown, which has long struggled with fentanyl use and overdoses and has at times had large encampments of unhoused people.
Continue reading...Green leader also apologised for misrepresenting his work with the Red Cross, and defended party policy on drugs
Labour has criticised Zack Polanski for saying he was concerned about how the suspect in the Golders Green stabbings was treated when he was arrested by the police.
Referring to what Polanski said about this in his Today interview this morning (see 9.33am), a Labour party spokesperson said:
Our brave police ran towards a suspected terrorist and tackled him while he was still carrying a knife and before they could handcuff him.
The fact that Zack Polanski is still sympathising with this individual is utterly astounding. For the Green party leader to be litigating the case for the defence against the police shows whose side he is truly on.
The latest unemployment figures for February showed a fall, interest rates were expected to come down, the markets were pricing in a couple of cuts during the course of the year.
The truth is, with the effect of the Iran war, we can’t count on any of that at the moment. There is likely to be an effect on prices, which feeds through from energy costs, and there may well be labour market implications.
Continue reading...WHO prequalification of Coartem Baby means newborns can be safely treated rather than using medication for older children
The first malaria treatment for babies has been approved by the World Health Organization, opening the door to widespread use around the globe.
In parts of Africa, up to 18% of children under six months will be infected with malaria, but there has historically been no safe treatment for the smallest of them. There were 610,000 deaths from malaria in 2024, about three quarters of which were under-fives in Africa.
Continue reading...Consumption is at a record high along with that of cocaine, Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission figures show
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Methamphetamine use in Australia has almost doubled in the past decade and stimulants are being taken at record highs, new wastewater monitoring reveals.
On Wednesday evening the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission (Acic) released its latest annual report after testing wastewater samples from 64 treatment plants across the country between August 2024 and 2025.
Continue reading...Executive order to speed access to psychedelic treatments likely to have limited legal impact despite high-profile push
The Trump administration issued an executive order earlier this month to accelerate access to psychedelic medication for people with “serious mental illnesses”, but experts say the order is more likely to make a difference symbolically than legally.
“Policymakers and the medical field have long struggled to address the burden of suicide and serious mental illness rates in America,” the order reads, noting that some people do not respond to available treatments.
Continue reading...President signed executive order directing FDA to expedite review of psychedelic drugs including ibogaine
Donald Trump on Saturday announced reforms intended to speed up access to medical research and treatment based on psychedelic drugs.
The president signed an executive order directing the federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to expedite review of drugs such as ibogaine, which US military veteran groups have said can help treat post-traumatic stress disorder.
Continue reading...Mo-Rez reduced or eliminated tumours in over 60% of patients and is expected to be a blockbuster drug
GSK has revealed positive results for a treatment for gynaecological cancers as its chief executive, Luke Miels, seeks to speed up drug development at the group.
The company said that in an early-stage trial Mocertatug Rezetecan, known as Mo-Rez, shrank or eliminated tumours in 62% of patients with ovarian cancer where chemotherapy had failed, and in 67% of those with endometrial cancer.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Guardian investigation finds several clinics making potentially unlawful claims about benefits of unregulated therapies
The medicines regulator is investigating whether UK clinics are breaking the law by making claims about the benefits of unregulated, experimental peptide therapies, the Guardian can reveal.
Interest in experimental peptides has boomed in recent years. The substances are delivered by injection and are touted by sellers, influencers and even some medics as aiding everything from anti-ageing to recovery from injury.
Continue reading...Influencers and athletes are among those claiming substances can help with injury repair, weight loss and angi-ageing
From influencers to athletes, high-profile figures are hailing peptides as the route to wellness, claiming they help with injury repair, weight loss, anti-ageing and mood. We take a look at what these substances are, and the murky industry surrounding them.
Continue reading...Police allege drugs were to be collected from a drop zone in Bass Strait and distributed across the nation using trucking connections
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When a commercial trawler sank off Victoria with four crew members needing rescuing, police became suspicious about an alleged drug trafficking operation.
Nine men are accused over a conspiracy to import tonnes of cocaine and methamphetamine before distributing the drugs across Australia using trucking connections.
Continue reading...Cannabis policy still divisive two years in, with SPD hailing it while CDU minister says it is risk to young people’s health
It was a landmark piece of legislation passed by Germany’s previous, centre-left-led government: a measure that legalised the personal recreational use of cannabis for over-18s despite warnings from critics it would cause a steep rise in the drug’s use, including by teenagers, and boost criminal gangs.
Two years on, controversy over the move has still not been stubbed out, with critics and proponents at odds over its impact on consumption, youth welfare and organised crime.
Continue reading...International researchers find ‘very little evidence’ medical form of the drug can treat anxiety, anorexia and other disorders
Cannabis is not an effective treatment for common mental health conditions despite the global surge in patients using it for that purpose, a review has found.
Researchers concluded there was “very little evidence for its efficacy” in treating anxiety, anorexia nervosa, psychotic disorders, post-traumatic stress disorder or opioid use disorder.
Continue reading...Research challenges idea of ‘generation sensible’ as alcohol and drug use increase after teenage years
Binge drinking rates among gen Z have risen sharply since their teenage years, according to research that challenges their reputation as “generation sensible”.
Almost seven in 10 (68%) 23-year-olds reported binge drinking in the past year, while nearly a third (29%) said they did so at least monthly, up from 10% at age 17.
Continue reading...Move brings total number of people killed in US strikes on suspected boats since September to at least 148
The US military launched a strike on an alleged drug smuggling boat in the eastern Pacific on Friday, killing three men in its second strike this week.
“Intelligence confirmed the vessel was transiting along known narco-trafficking routes in the Eastern Pacific and was engaged in narco-trafficking operations,” US Southern Command, which oversees operations in Latin America and the Caribbean, said on Twitter/X.
Continue reading...Pedro Inzunza Coronel, alias ‘El Pichón’, was killed during an anti-drug operation by the Mexican navy in Sinaloa
Mexican authorities have killed one of the country’s top fentanyl traffickers, accused of importing tens of thousands of kilos of the drug into the US and wanted by the US authorities on narco-terrorism charges.
Pedro Inzunza Coronel, alias “El Pichón”, (The Pigeon) was killed on Sunday during an anti-drug operation by the Mexican navy in the north-western state of Sinaloa.
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