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In the United States, illicit fentanyl is often trafficked as blue tablets mimicking the legitimate M‐30 oxycodone tablet produced by Mallinckrodt. The analysis of dyes extracted from seized fentanyl tablets could provide a useful tool for law enforcement to establish linkages between cases and could prove useful for attributing a seizure to a given trafficking organization. Fentanyl tablet seizures associated with a particular drug trafficking organization (DTO), either through investigative or intelligence information, were used as the sample set for this study. The blue dye from the tablets was isolated by solid phase extraction and then qualitatively and quantitatively analyzed via ultraviolet‐visible spectroscopy. This research revealed that the illicit tableting facilities use a different dye than several known pharmaceutical companies. The concentration of dye in individual tablets within a seizure proved to be very minimal, and the small sample size made it difficult to draw linkages from case to case. Analysis of the dyes could not effectively differentiate between the drug trafficking organizations in the tested population due to each DTO using the same dye; however, it is important to note that the dye found was consistent between illicit tablets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Racialization of the drug trade has been an ongoing feature of drug‐related moral panics for over a century. In the latter part of the twentieth century, public anxieties about ongoing economic changes made immigrants and Mexican drug cartels convenient scapegoats in the context of moral panics about cannabis and cannabis growers. In this research, I focus on the social construction of cannabis growers in the Emerald Triangle of Northern California, with a particular focus on the cartel grower construct. Through a content analysis of news media coverage, government and law enforcement reports, and field notes from personal communications with law enforcement officers and government officials, I identify racialized constructions of growers in the region. I also explore the relationships between local narratives and the broader cannabis discourse. In this “post‐prohibition” moment, this discourse impacts U.S. cannabis policy conversations and fuels anti‐immigrant rhetoric. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines Mexico's "war on drug trafficking" through its affective and ideological dimensions. By ethnographically exploring two sites of official representations of organized crime in Mexico City—the Secretariat of Defense's Drug Museum and the Institute to Give Back What Was Stolen from the People—I analyze the strategies through which the Mexican state acknowledges and addresses criminality's charisma as a key challenge to its authority. In these official representations, the drug world becomes visible in partial and selective ways, such as through drug traffickers' confiscated possessions, which project ideas of extravagant capitalist consumption and transgressive social mobility. The state's inevitable failure to contain or redirect this criminal charisma is a symptom of a deeper problem. Such charisma is a key element constituting organized crime as a political actor that menaces state power. It does so not only through violence, but also by means of its capacity to align and organize publics ideologically by doubling and mimicking the state's forms of meaning‐making and valuation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent scholarship has found that Mexico's dirty war was rooted in existing, but also limited, violent practices established during the 1940s and 1950s. During the 1960s, these limits began to disappear. But it was not until the early 1970s when the state had sufficient capacity to launch counterinsurgency tactics throughout the nation. However, contrary to traditional appreciations of Mexico's dirty war, these tactics were not exclusively used on urban and rural insurgents. They were soon employed by soldiers, secret agents and state cops often in alliance with local landowners and their pistoleros. They focused these violent practices on land invaders, groups aiming at indigenous autonomy, drug traffickers and drug producers. La tibieza ya se acabó, esto es una guerra a muerte (The softly‐softly approach is over, this is a war to the death) Durazo Moreno, April 1977. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article "Sound, Order and Survival in Prison: The Rhythms and Routines of HMP Midtown" by Kate Herrity explores the commonalities in how prison life is experienced by administrators, staff, and incarcerated individuals, focusing on the role of sound in shaping life inside the prison. Herrity's work integrates ethnographic observations with classic and contemporary prison research, advancing the field by linking micro processes to macro forces in prisons. The book lays a foundation for future research on penal settings and transitions between community and prison, offering a unique perspective on the impact of sound on daily life in institutions. [Extracted from the article]

Introduction: Prohibited drugs in unregulated markets may be adulterated, resulting in increased risks for people who use drugs. This study investigated levels of drug adulteration and substitution of drugs purchased in Australia from cryptomarkets. Methods: Data were collected from a darknet forum called Test4Pay from 1 September 2022 to 23 August 2023. Posts were included if they reported the results of drug samples submitted by post to the Vancouver‐based Get Your Drugs Tested service, which uses Fourier‐transform infrared spectroscopy with immunoassay strip tests (fentanyl and benzodiazepines). Results: Of 103 samples, 65% contained only the advertised substance, 14% contained the advertised substance in combination with other psychoactive and/or potentially harmful substances and for 21%, the advertised substance was absent. Substances sold as MDMA, methamphetamine or heroin were consistently found to contain only the advertised substance, while substances sold as 2C‐B, alprazolam or ketamine were the most likely to be completely substituted. Only 4 samples sold as cocaine contained solely the advertised substance, with 13 containing cocaine with adulterants like lidocaine, creatine, levamisole and boric acid (n = 19). No fentanyl contamination was detected. Novel dissociatives and novel benzodiazepines were detected, as well as a nitazene compound. Discussion and Conclusions: Drug markets under prohibition continue to contain numerous unexpected substances, some of which can elevate risk of harm. Cryptomarkets are not immune to this problem, despite review systems, which should, in theory, make vendors more accountable for the quality of their stock. These findings demonstrate a need for expansion of local drug checking services in Australia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Upon election in 2016, President Rodrigo Duterte launched one of the world's most lethal and aggressive anti‐drug campaigns known as the War on Drugs in the Philippines. The War on Drugs unleashed an unprecedented level of violence while enjoying high public approval in the Philippines throughout Duterte's presidency. Scholars from a variety of disciplines grappled with understanding the significance and impact of the War on Drugs, generating a substantial literature. How have scholars contributed to critical understanding and practice that confront the Philippines' War on Drugs? We analyse and assess the state of the scholarship on the Philippines' War on Drugs by reviewing 140 scholarly materials. We find that scholars contextualized the popularity of violence, documented its various actual effects on Philippine society, and to a lesser extent, offered alternatives. Our literature review synthesises two major analytical approaches explaining the drug war: as penal populism and as moral politics. Scholars describe the War on Drugs as a way of governing society through violence and with impunity for extrajudicial killings and human rights abuses, using legitimising moral discourses. We present key findings on the drug war's actual consequences, underscoring its catastrophic impact across various communities except the drug trade itself. Throughout, we offer reflections on blind spots, highlighting the value of considering the historical context and deeper structural and political‐economic drivers. We arrive at a research agenda intended to aid scholars in engaging with the persistent issues in the War on Drugs as it continues to be implemented by the Philippine government. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Homicide is a prevalent cause of death among sex workers, given their increased risk of violence due to proximity to criminal activities such as drug trade and human trafficking. This study analyzes homicide data from the National Violent Death Reporting System (NVDRS) covering 49 US states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico from 2012 to 2020. Case inclusion criteria included: (1) manner of death of homicide, and (2) sex work‐related circumstance. Descriptive analyses examined victim and injury characteristics, suspect information, and circumstances. The study identified 321 sex work‐related homicides (54% female, 41% male, 6% transgender). Among female victims, 94% were sex workers, and 54% of their suspects were clients. Money conflicts (23%) and other crimes (30%), most often in progress, commonly precipitated homicides of female victims. Substance use problems were reported in 49% of female victims, with 25% of their suspected perpetrators reportedly using substances in the preceding hours. For male victims, 54% were clients and 9% were sex workers. Suspects in male homicides were primarily sex workers (34%) or individuals engaged in sex work‐adjacent criminal activities (36%). Money conflicts (49%), other crimes (47%) most often in progress, and sex trafficking involvement (25%) commonly precipitated homicides with male victims. Transgender sex worker victims were mostly transfeminine (94%) and non‐Hispanic black (89%). Money conflicts (78%) most commonly precipitated homicides among transgender sex worker victims. These findings can inform prevention strategies addressing underlying risk factors for persons involved in sex work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Encrypted messaging apps like Telegram have become an increasingly attractive tool for drug dealing. The combination of easy opening and closing of user communities, powerful anonymity features, and operability on smartphones is changing the way drugs are delivered at the end of the chain. However, much of the recent research on Internet‐based drug markets has focused on cryptomarkets, but also on social media and the clear web. Drawing on economic sociology literature on marketplaces and partial organizations, this article fills this gap by analyzing the social organization of drug economies based on messaging apps. We argue that this form of drug trade enhances the experience of both selling and consuming drugs. Based on a unique set of in‐depth interviews with drug sellers and users belonging to four different Telegram groups in Argentina, this article shows that Telegram communities offer a wider variety of substances, speed up drug delivery, create the perception that police detection is unlikely, and promote drug specialization among sellers. This research expands our understanding of how technology and specific organizational forms transform both drug provision and consumption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research summary: Darknet marketplaces (DNMs) are global digital marketplaces used primarily to buy and sell illicit drugs online. High rates of adulterated substances have contributed to the creation of harm reduction policies by DNM administrators to address growing rates of overdose worldwide. This paper explores the extent to which harm reduction occurs in buyer feedback of Adderall and Oxycodone purchased on AlphaBay and how these comments are impacted by AlphaBay's administrator‐led "harm reduction" policy. This study finds that harm reduction strategies are present in buyer feedback of Oxycodone and Adderall pills, but AlphaBay's policy has very little impact on the preexisting harm reduction communication within buyer feedback. Policy implications: International policy proposals have placed emphasis on addressing the overdose crisis through harm reduction programs that provide people who use drugs with the necessary services and resources to buy and use drugs safely. There have been very few proposals that have considered how these programs can address the unique setting of buying and using drugs purchased on DNMs. Communication occurring among DNM buyers reveals how harm reduction strategies are being employed by users purchasing drugs from DNMs. In particular, these findings offer insight into the shared experiences of drug buyers in anonymous settings and the strategies they are using to protect one another from overdose and other unwanted side effects often caused by adulterated substances. Understanding these strategies highlights the ways in which street‐based harm reduction programs can extend their services to online environments to assist buyers with making safe and informed decisions when using substances purchased online. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research Summary: We present a comprehensive description of Hydra, the largest darknet marketplace in the world until its shutdown in April 2022. We document the main features of Hydra such as dead‐drop delivery, feedback and reputation system, escrow, and dispute resolution. Using data scraped from the platform, we quantitatively examine the scale and the structure of the marketplace. We find that it has been highly competitive, geographically covering at least 69% of the Russian population and trading a wide variety of drugs, while also allowing the wholesale trade of drugs and precursors. The dead‐drop delivery system used on Hydra was expensive, as the courier costs comprised a substantial proportion of the sale price of drugs on Hydra. We contribute to the research on drug cryptomarkets by studying an unprecedentedly large non‐Western marketplace that existed substantially longer than any other known darknet market. Policy Implications: The phenomenon of Hydra shows that shut‐down policies applied to darknet marketplaces have a large effect and implicitly shape the whole drug market. Without these policies, a pervasive digitalization of the drug trade can occur. The major cost of allowing marketplaces to grow is the probable increase in the consumption of illegal drugs due to convenience for consumers and facilitated cooperation between suppliers. This cost must be weighed against the potential benefits, including a higher quality of drugs, a decrease in potential violence, and the incentives for a large marketplace to self‐regulate. The case of Hydra also suggests the relevance of financial regulation to limit the growth of darknet marketplaces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay examines the racializing logics and consequences of drawing analogies between the works of William Shakespeare and the devastatingly violent realities of the drug trade in the Americas. The particular prominence of Macbeth in the wide range of Shakespearean invocations and appropriations in contemporary US narratives about narcotrafficking cannot be attributed simply to the fact that it is a tale of bloody ambition. Rather, the repeated mapping of a play that comes to its conclusion with an English military invasion of its "barbarous" Scottish neighbors onto the US–Mexico Borderlands speaks to much deeper histories of colonial conquest and to neocolonial interventionist policies and actions of the present. The essay concludes by turning to two recent instances in which theater artists have translated and significantly revised Macbeth in order to reframe dominant narratives about narcotrafficking, racial supremacy, and the border. These productions demonstrate the disruptive and transformative potential of Shakespearean appropriations that resist neocolonial power structures and ideologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Prisoners have significantly greater levels of drug use than the general population, which is related to many adverse outcomes both during and post‐imprisonment. Reducing the availability of drugs in prison can lead to a reduction in the drug use of prisoners but requires knowledge of the different drug smuggling routes and the implementation of effective security measures. The main smuggling routes identified in the literature are through visitors; mail; prisoners on reception, remand, or work release; staff; and perimeter throwovers, but they differ between prisons depending on various contextual factors and security measures in place. Based on a total of 81 studies from 22 different countries, the average prevalence of drug use during incarceration is 32.0% with a range from 3.4% to 90%. The types of drugs used in prisons vary among geographical regions, countries, and even regions within countries. The most common drug reported to be used by prisoners in most studies was cannabis, except in South Asia and Scotland, where heroin was more prevalent. The drugs used in prison tend to reflect the prevalence of drugs in the local community, except where a drug has advantages unique to use in prison. It is vital to examine the prevalence of drug use and different types of drugs used during incarceration to help inform drug treatment services, assist prison staff in identifying potential drug use or intoxicated prisoners, and advise prisons about the most prevalent drug smuggling routes so new security measures can be considered. This article is categorized under:Toxicology > Drug AnalysisToxicology > New Psychoactive Substances [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

"Mixing Medicines: The Global Drug Trade and Early Modern Russia" by Clare Griffin is a valuable contribution to the field of Russian history and the historiography of early modern medicine. The book explores two main themes: the engagement of Russian medicine with European medicines and the traditions of Russia's medical bureaucracy. Griffin argues that drug prescription, particularly of botanical simples, was central to early modern Russian medicine and reveals Moscow's consumption of products from other European empires, as well as its links to Asia, North Africa, and the Americas. The book also examines the cultural barriers to new knowledge and the role of Apothecary Chancery bureaucrats in shaping Russian medicine. While the integration of theory from the history of science literature is not always seamless, "Mixing Medicines" provides valuable insights into early modern Russian natural knowledge and its place in the global history of science and medicine. [Extracted from the article]

Aims: Due to their central mechanism of action, antiseizure medications (ASMs) could lead to adverse effects likely to impair driving skills. Their extended use to neuropsychiatric disorders makes it a class of drugs to monitor for their road traffic accidental (RTA) potential. We aimed to assess the reporting association between ASMs and RTAs using the World Health Organization pharmacovigilance database (VigiBase). Methods: We performed a disproportionality analysis to compute adjusted reporting odds ratios to evaluate the strength of reporting association between ASMs and RTAs. A univariate analysis using the reporting odds‐ratio was used to assess drug–drug interactions between ASMs and RTAs. Results: There were 1 341 509 reports associated with at least 1 ASM in VigiBase of whom 2.91‰ were RTAs reports. Eight ASMs were associated with higher reporting of RTAs compared to others (ranging from 1.35 [95% confidence interval 1.11–1.64] for lamotrigine to 4.36 [95% confidence interval 3.56–5.32] for cannabis). Eight significant drug–drug interactions were found between ASMs and the onset of RTA, mainly involving CYP450 induction. Conclusion: A significant safety signal between RTAs and some ASMs was identified. Association of several ASMs might further increase the occurrence of RTA. ASMs prescription in patients with identified risk factors of RTA should be considered with caution. Study number: ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT04480996. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we provide an estimate of the impact of money laundering on residential house market prices. The housing market is commonly exploited by criminal organizations to clean illegal profits. The increase in demand due to money laundering contrasts the negative externality of crime on house prices, which has been investigated by a large literature. We build a new dataset on residential house prices at the provincial level in Italy over the period 2005–2012, obtaining a sample of 672 observations. We then estimate a hedonic equilibrium price model, controlling for proxies both for illegal profits derived from "entrepreneurial" crimes (drug dealing, receiving stolen goods, prostitution) and for violent crimes (extortions), together with traditional market drivers. Adding to the evidence from the traditional literature, which remarks the negative impact of crime on house prices, our findings suggest that money laundering from "entrepreneurial" crimes creates an upward distortion in the housing market prices. The impact is stronger where retail markets for illicit trades are richer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the nature and dynamics of criminal violence in central Mexico through the lived experience of internally displaced persons (IDPs) over the past ten years. First, the issue of internal displacement and the context of violence and drug‐trafficking in Mexico is addressed, then reflections are made on the methodological, security and ethical challenges of doing fieldwork in contexts of violence. Three case studies are drawn upon to illustrate the complexities of violence, organised crime and state (in)action leading to forced displacement. Findings are analysed and framed as grey zones, uncertain and at times indecipherable and terrifying. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

B Discussion/Conclusion: b Such signals represent plausible adverse drug reactions considering the knowledge of iatrogenic PAH, the drugs' biological and pharmacological activity, and the characteristics of the reported case. B PM2-001 b B Updated prevalence of potentially inappropriate prescriptions in older adults in France (2017) b M. L. Laroche SP 1 sp , B. Roux SP 2 sp , J. Bezin SP 3 sp , C. Morival SP 4 sp and P. Noize SP 3 sp SP 1 sp I Laboratoire Vie-Santé (Vieillissement Fragilité Prévention, E-Santé), IFR Geist, Université de Limoges, Limoges, France; i SP 2 sp I Centre of Pharmacovigilance and Pharmacoepidemiology, Department of Pharmacology Toxicology and Centre of Pharmacovigilance, University Hospital of Limoges, Limoges, France; i SP 3 sp I Univ. The most prescribed drugs were "digestive system" drugs (80%), "central nervous system" drugs (70%), and "blood and hematopoietic organs" drugs (65%). Medications with an unfavourable benefit/risk ratio were the most prevalent (34.0%, 95%CI: 33.7-34.3), including drugs with anticholinergic proprieties (18.0%; 95%CI: 17.8-18.3), followed by medications with inappropriate dose and/or duration (27.8%; 95%CI: 27.5-28.1) and inappropriate drug duplications (27.5%; 95%CI: 27.2-27.8). [Extracted from the article]

Long‐standing federal drug‐control policy aims to reduce the flow of narcotics into the USA, in part by intercepting cocaine shipments en route from South American production regions to North American consumer markets. Drug interdiction efforts operate over a large geographic area, containing complex drug trafficking networks in a dynamic environment. The extant interdiction models in the operations research and location science literature do not realistically model the objectives of and constraints on the interdiction forces, and therefore counterdrug organizations do not employ those models in their decision‐making processes. This article presents three new models built on the maximal covering location problem (MCLP): the maximal covering location problem for interdiction (MCLP‐I), multiple‐demand maximal covering location problem (MD‐MCLP), and multiple‐type maximal covering location problem (MT‐MCLP). These are novel formulations that permit multiple types of demands and facilities to be covered, and the utility of these formulations is demonstrated in the context of counterdrug operations. Optimal interdiction locations are determined within the geography of the Central American transit zone, using a coupled GIS and optimization framework. The results identify the optimal interdiction locations for known or estimated drug shipments and can constrain those optimal locations by differentiating among drug traffickers, the types of interdiction resources, and agency jurisdictions. This research both demonstrates the flexibility in designing alternative interdiction scenarios and presents novel covering models that may be extended to other application areas and operational contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The government of Mozambique plans to implement pay cuts for civil servants starting in 2025 in order to control the growing public wage bill. The aim is to ensure that the wage bill does not exceed 12.4% of GDP by 2025 and 10.6% of GDP by 2027. This move is part of austerity measures to restore fiscal credibility and improve access to financing. The country has been implementing financial reforms since 2022 with the support of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). However, there are concerns that the wage bill may lead to delays in the disbursement of IMF funding. Additionally, the population of Muidumbe District is demanding the return of civil servants who fled due to insecurity, with essential public services remaining closed. The Association of Mozambican Judges (AMJ) has announced a 30-day strike starting on August 9th to pressure the government to address their concerns, including the demand for the financial independence of the judiciary. Mozambique's attorney general has also denounced attempts to intimidate investigators and magistrates in their efforts to combat organized crime, including drug trafficking and kidnappings for ransom. [Extracted from the article]

Mozambique's healthcare union, Apsum, has extended a labor strike for 30 days due to a lack of consensus with the government. The strike, which began on April 29th, involves over 65,000 healthcare workers demanding payment of overtime for 2023 and better working conditions. Despite negotiations, an agreement has not been reached. The strike has resulted in over 1,000 patient deaths due to a lack of proper healthcare. In addition, a Mozambican Supreme Court judge has stated that drug trafficking is financing the insurgency in the country's northern Cabo Delgado province. The court's vice-president also mentioned that transnational organized crime networks are using the coast of Cabo Delgado to transport narcotics into Africa. Furthermore, timber smuggling from Mozambique's forests to China is reportedly financing Islamic State-backed insurgents in Cabo Delgado Province. Mozambique loses $700 million annually due to this smuggling. Finally, Mozambique allocates 1.5% of its annual budget to its response to climate change, as it is the seventh most vulnerable country to the impacts of climate change according to the 2022 World Risk Report. [Extracted from the article]

Piracy continues to be a major security concern in the Gulf of Guinea, with a recent incident occurring off the coast of Cabo Verde. Armed men boarded a Turkish-flagged oil tanker, looting cash and assets before the crew was able to break free. In response to rising piracy cases, the European Union Naval Force (EU Navfor) has entered an agreement with Kenya to prosecute suspects of maritime crimes. Additionally, pirates hijacked a Liberian-flagged cargo ship near the Somali port town of Marka, trapping the crew members in a safe room. [Extracted from the article]

A new report from the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) highlights the negative impact of drug trafficking on stability, development, and public health in the Sahel region. Cannabis resin is the most commonly trafficked drug in the Sahel, followed by cocaine and pharmaceutical opioids. The report reveals a significant increase in cocaine seizures in the region, suggesting the presence of large-scale cocaine trafficking. Drug trafficking provides financial resources to armed groups, enabling them to sustain their involvement in conflicts. Corruption and money laundering play major roles in facilitating drug trafficking, with traffickers using their income to penetrate different layers of the state and avoid prosecution. The report calls for decisive action to disrupt drug trafficking networks through prevention and treatment services, strengthening legal frameworks, and enhanced international cooperation. The United Nations emphasizes the need for urgent, coordinated, and comprehensive action to dismantle drug trafficking networks in the Sahel region. [Extracted from the article]

Drug trafficking through concealment has always been a method of choice for drug traffickers all around the world. This case shares a new trend in the smuggling of illicit drugs by applying a coating of drug and polymer mixture on fabric. A white fabric sample was submitted by a law enforcement agency to detect the presence of any explosive material on its surface. Later on it was also tested for illicit drugs. Stereomicroscope and Scanning Electron Microscope/Energy Dispersive X‐ray Detector (SEM/EDX) were applied for microscopic examination. Acetone extract of the sample was analyzed for explosives by explosive detection kit, Gas Chromatography Mass Spectrometry (GCMS), and Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR). The routine method involving methanol as solvent was used to check heroin presence. Methanol extract of the sample was analyzed by Mecke test and GCMS. Stereomicroscope and SEM/EDX revealed the presence of some unusual coating on one side of fabric. No explosive material was detected; instead GCMS (method 1) confirmed the presence of heroin (mass fragments 268, 310, 327, and 369 m/z) and FTIR spectrum revealed presence of a polymeric material (dyneema). No drug was identified by GCMS (method 2). Method 2 was modified by replacing methanol with acetone and including an additional step of sonication for 30 min. Acetone extract showed green color with Mecke reagent and a strong signal of heroin on GCMS. This modified extraction method acted well to unbind the coated material from the fabric and to disentangle the drug from the polymer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bolivia is a centre for drug production and trafficking and yet it experiences far less drug‐related violence than other countries in Latin America that form part of cocaine's commodity chain. Drawing upon more than three years of ethnographic fieldwork conducted between 2005 and 2019, this article presents evidence from the Chapare, a coca‐growing and drug processing region in central Bolivia, to consider why this is the case. Building from the literature on embedded economies and the subsistence ethic of peasant communities, the article demonstrates that the drug trade is part of a local moral order that prioritizes kinship, reciprocal relations and community well‐being, facilitated by the cultural significance of the coca leaf. This has served to limit possibilities for the violence that is often associated with drug production and trafficking. In addition, coca grower agricultural unions act as a parallel form of governance, providing a framework for the peaceful resolution of disputes and working actively to exclude the state and criminal actors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Taliban's takeover of Afghanistan has brought both opportunities and challenges for Pakistan. As Islamabad is relieved by India's exit from Afghanistan, it continues to worry more about the spill‐over of the situation in Afghanistan into Pakistan. Among key non‐traditional security challenges are extremism, terrorism, refugees and drug trafficking and Islamabad continues to express serious concerns on how the new development in Afghanistan can pose a serious threat to Pakistan's peace and security. With a friendly regime in Kabul, however, Pakistan has an opportunity to handle these challenges through a mix of bilateral and multilateral options. By examining historical and contemporary dynamics, this article assesses the seriousness of non‐traditional security threats vis‐à‐vis Afghanistan for Pakistan. Islamabad's immediate non‐traditional security concerns focus on how the new developments in Afghanistan will possibly influence religious extremism and terrorism at home. Finally, the article outlines policy recommendations for Pakistan's engagement in the Taliban‐led Afghanistan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the early 21st century, non‐traditional security threats such as terrorism and narcotics trafficking drove the revival of post‐Soviet Russia's interest in and concern about the Afghan problem. This article outlines main security threats for Russia and Central Asia in Afghanistan during two decades of the United States (US) presence, identifies new risks, aggravating circumstances, and threat reduction factors following the US forces' final departure and Taliban's comeback to power since 2021, and explores ways to counter main Afghanistan‐related security risks. For Russia and broader Eurasia, actual and potential non‐traditional security threats emanating from Afghanistan are likely to persist under the Taliban's second rule. However, none of them are unmanageable. While inside Afghanistan, much depends on the new Taliban authorities' performance, it is up to the Central Asian states themselves and to Russia as their Eurasian security ally to hedge against potential scenarios. If the security pillar of Russia's response is confined to Central Asia and Central Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), the political‐diplomatic one extends to broader region and beyond. Overall, Russia has learnt its own historical lessons on Afghanistan: Moscow now prioritizes collective action in cooperation with regional powers, under multilateral frameworks extending beyond the region, and at the United Nations (UN). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In February 2020, the United States (US) and the Taliban signed a peace deal in Doha, Qatar which stipulated US troop withdrawal from Afghanistan by 1 May 2021. The Biden administration extended the deadline to 11 September 2021. The Doha agreement does not augur peace and stability in Afghanistan with the country predicted to suffer from protracted violence and even a civil war. The instability in Afghanistan will also cascade into the neighbourhood and beyond and lead to non‐traditional threats/challenges. In the new millennium, while Russia, Iran and some Central Asian countries have borne the brunt of the narcotics trade emanating from Afghanistan, these countries along with India, China and Pakistan have also suffered from increase in terrorist attacks due to an unstable Afghanistan. Human migration has also negatively impacted the socio‐economic and political milieu of Pakistan and Iran. This special section assesses the non‐traditional security challenges/threats such as transnational Islamic fundamentalist terrorism, drugs/narcotics trade and human migration in the region and beyond posed by increasing instability and protracted violence in Afghanistan as a consequence of US withdrawal, and discusses the role (or the lack) of international and regional organizations and country initiatives in providing solutions to overcome or mitigate these problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many analysts and policy makers agree that the withdrawal of the US and North Atlantic Treaty Organization forces and formation of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan will exacerbate the political, social, ethnic and religious fault lines in Afghanistan and may lead to civil war and chaos in Afghanistan reminiscent of the 1990s. This will also exacerbate non‐traditional security threats such as Islamic fundamentalist and transnational terrorism, drugs/narcotics trade and human migration/refugee crisis in the neighbouring countries and beyond. This article argues that tackling the non‐traditional security threats facing the region and beyond is a public good. It analyses the tackling of non‐traditional security threats – terrorism, narcotics trade and human migration/refugee inflow – through the prism of collective action problem that is joint production of a good or joint action to tackle the problem. It illustrates that difference in threat perception, clash/conflict of interests and geopolitical rivalries will hinder cooperation and intelligence sharing, and lead to uncoordinated action and free riding. It will also create problems of leadership and affect the choice and efficacy of the organisation/institution to tackle the threats. The article highlights that in the absence of collective action, it will be extremely difficult to overcome the non‐traditional security threats emanating from Afghanistan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Strong historical, cultural, linguistic, and religious affinities have bound Iran and Afghanistan within the greater Middle East region. With the US withdrawal from Afghanistan and the Taliban takeover in August 2021, Iran is likely to face the exacerbation of existing nontraditional security challenges and the emergence of new threats. Iran continues to deal with drug trafficking, an influx of refugees and economic migrants, and terrorism caused partly by more than four decades of war in Afghanistan. Although Iranian authorities have cheered the United States (US) pullout and expressed cautious optimism about the Taliban, Tehran's choice of policy toward Afghanistan and its new rulers remains to be decided. Iran is likely to continue a policy of engagement with the Taliban unless the government in Kabul realigns with Tehran's adversaries and poses security threats to Iran. In the latter situation, Iran, resorting to proxy sponsorship, is likely to model its Afghanistan policy on its Iraq policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of the current study was to determine the prevalence of probable attention‐deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in prisoners and to assess the relationship between ADHD and recidivism. We studied 356 inmates, who were evaluated using the Wender Utah Rating Scale and Adult ADHD Self‐Report Scale. Type of crime and other crime‐related data were compared between inmates with and without ADHD. The group with probable ADHD had a higher average number of convictions compared to the group without ADHD. The probable ADHD group also demonstrated higher incidence of extortion crime, drug trade, disciplinary action at school, and military service than the group without ADHD. Linear regression analysis revealed that the presence of probable ADHD was effective on the number of convictions. The findings of our study support that the presence of probable ADHD carries a potential risk of being prone to certain crimes and demonstrate a correlation between the presence of probable ADHD and early involvement in crime and the number of convictions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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This study estimates the impact of the discretionary Edward Byrne Memorial State and Local Law Enforcement Assistance Program (EBMGP) on drug arrests and crime. The 1986 and 1988 Anti‐Drug Abuse Act allocated federal funds to state and local municipalities to combat illicit drug use and violent crime associated with drug sales and trafficking. The results show that the implementation of the EBMGP resulted in an increase in police hiring, an increase in drug sales arrest rates for Blacks and Whites, and a decrease in total crime. Nonetheless, Black‐White racial disparity in the drug sales arrest rate still significantly increases by approximately 1 for every 1,000 Black residents. Our findings highlight the role of federal crime control policies in state and local policing. Although, the EBMGP was a color‐blind policy initiative, it was not race neutral in its implementation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

"Robbery in the illegal drugs trade: Violence and vengeance" by Robert McLean and James Densley is a valuable book that explores the world of robbery in the drug trafficking industry, specifically in Scotland. The authors conducted snowball interviews with 75 men, 8 women, and 38 active offenders involved in gang activity or organized crime to gain an in-depth understanding of the phenomenon. The book covers topics such as the motivations of offenders, how drug-related robberies occur, the relationship between victims and perpetrators, and the lives of former robbers. The authors argue that robbery is ultimately tied to its social context and suggest a holistic approach integrating public policy and social services to combat the prevalence of robbery. [Extracted from the article]

In 2013 activists in a Rio de Janeiro favela—an epicenter of the city's notorious police violence—called on the Brazilian state to fulfill their "right to public security." They were anticipating a new policing program, known as "pacification," in which the state would expand its efforts to "clean up" poor, racially stigmatized neighborhoods dominated by drug‐trafficking groups. The activists' claim was at once a cry and a demand: a cry against discriminatory policing, state terror, and an unjustly divided city, and a demand for equality, peace, and the state provision of safety in their streets. This case shows that a critical anthropology of security can maintain a tension between security‐as‐violence and security‐as‐rights. In doing so, scholars can broaden the understanding of state security beyond repression and attend to how it instantiates various modes of sovereign power. [security, policing, rights, activism, pacification, UPP, traffickers, favela, Brazil] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Incident report triage is a common endeavor in many industry sectors, often coupled with serious public safety implications. For example, at the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), analysts triage an influx of incident reports to identify previously undiscovered drug safety problems. However, these analysts currently conduct this critical yet error‐prone incident report triage using a generic table‐based interface, with no formal support. Visualization design, task‐characterization methodologies, and evaluation models offer several possibilities for better supporting triage workflows, including those dealing with drug safety and beyond. In this work, we aim to elevate the work of triage through a task‐abstraction activity with FDA analysts. Second, we design an alternative gist‐based summary of text documents used in triage (SumRe). Third, we conduct a crowdsourced evaluation of SumRe with medical experts. Results of the crowdsourced study with medical experts (n = 20) suggest that SumRe better supports accuracy in understanding the gist of a given report, and in identifying important reports for followup activities. We discuss implications of these results, including design considerations for triage workflows beyond the drug domain, as well as methodologies for comparing visualization‐enabled text summaries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on life history interviews with successfully retired drug dealers, this article examines opportunities and challenges in the suburban underground economy. "Friendship" is key. Suburban drug dealing occurs exclusively through networks of friends, kin, and the acquaintances thereof. Friends are functionally necessary for the suburban illegal drug business but also economically inconvenient in that they require sharing drugs, spending time, "hanging out," and "partying." Friends represent "transaction costs" in conventional economic terms. The ambivalence produced by this, in profiting from friends and mixing sociality and commerce, is best understood via insights from economic anthropology, preeminently Marcel Mauss. For Mauss, gifts and self‐interest, generosity and profit, are, and ought to be, conceptually inseparable. Dealers vividly demonstrate this entanglement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The three films discussed here are all adapted works based on real‐life incidents that have happened in China pertaining to child trafficking, drug smuggling, and kidnapping. Although the films depict the roads traveled and lives lived by the particular characters, more importantly, they enable the audience to realize that characters cannot be viewed in terms of black and white. Rather, characters should be viewed as "gray." Specifically, all characters are portrayed as both selfless and profit driven. They are forced to confront hidden pain caused by the trials and tribulations of life. That pain is coupled with a sense of helplessness and a need to face life's changes brought about by the failure of the government's social management system. Being under constant pressure, the dregs of society pursue their own selfish interests, thereby infringing on the interests of others. When criminals are at their worst, the audience is looking for their goodness amidst the opposing forces of legality and sentimentality, egoism and altruism. Audiences are hoping for some form of redemption in characters who are wrestling with responsibility and obligation. This not only gives the characters a sense of inclusiveness, but it also gives viewers comfort regarding our shared humanity. At the same time, the upsurge of public opinion triggered by these realistic films has accelerated government reform and enhancement of the social system. Thus, socially oriented movies in China have had large social value and practical significance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores how state agents and civilians justify human rights violations when the military perform police tasks. Based on a set of interviews and documents, it analyses the actions of the armed forces and the police during a military‐led operation that targeted drug trafficking organisations in Tijuana. In a context of limited civilian control over the armed forces and the police, the paper identifies two discourses that supported the illegal action of state agents: the construction of a foreign other who does not belong to society and the need to use violence to accomplish a greater good. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What is life like after drift‐cocaine arrives in a village on Colombia's Northern Pacific coast? Drift‐cocaine is a side‐effect of the interdiction of drug transport boats heading towards Central and North America as part of the US‐Colombian War on Drugs. Villagers refer to drift‐cocaine as the White Fish. Through ethnographic engagement with Afro‐descendant peoples in Chocó, this article explores the effects and relations that emerge from an ocean turned into an amphitheatre of fishing livelihoods, drug traffickers, and military operations. By taking seriously the White Fish as the way people refer to cocaine, I focus on gossip and rumour as the strategies they employ to discuss the pervasive effects of the drug trade. I trace three interrelated discussions – concerning violence, cocaine, and the White Fish – in order to argue for the usefulness of gossip and rumour in investigative ethnographies of violence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABC transporters (ATP‐binding cassette transporter) traffic drugs and their metabolites across membranes, making ABC transporter expression levels a key factor regulating local drug concentrations in different tissues and individuals. Yet, quantification of ABC transporters remains challenging because they are large and low‐abundance transmembrane proteins. Here, we analysed 200 samples of crude and membrane‐enriched fractions from human liver, kidney, intestine, brain microvessels and skin, by label‐free quantitative mass spectrometry. We identified 32 (out of 48) ABC transporters: ABCD3 was the most abundant in liver, whereas ABCA8, ABCB2/TAP1 and ABCE1 were detected in all tissues. Interestingly, this atlas unveiled that ABCB2/TAP1 may have TAP2‐independent functions in the brain and that biliary atresia (BA) and control livers have quite different ABC transporter profiles. We propose that meaningful biological information can be derived from a direct comparison of these data sets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

COVID‐19 temporarily severed the production and the supply chains for fentanyl, a synthetic narcotic responsible for over 30,000 deaths in the United States in 2018. Much fentanyl was produced in Wuhan, China, the source of the epidemic. Fentanyl was previously sold directly to American consumers through online websites and was also supplied by Mexican drug traffickers, who produced the drug from precursor chemicals purchased from China. With the advent of the pandemic, websites from Wuhan‐based sellers reported that the drugs were not being produced or shipped. Moreover, Mexican drug traffickers were deprived of the precursor chemicals to produce this highly potent opioid. Despite the reduced entry of illicit fentanyl to the United States, enough was stockpiled by drug traffickers perpetuating a very serious problem of illegal fentanyl abuse. Deaths have increased since the start of the COVID epidemic, as the problems of drug abuse have not stopped and access to treatment and medical services are diminished. Moreover, isolation and lack of social support compound the problem. The initial data on increased deaths from illegal fentanyl consumption are consistent with the overall picture of the impact of the COVID epidemic. Those who are most vulnerable are suffering disproportionately from the drug trade. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work deals with the drug design, synthesis, crystallization, and the interpretation of 4,6‐dimethyl‐2‐(3‐(p‐tolyloxy)propoxy)nicotinonitrile fleximer (1). The structural analysis of compound (1) is performed through single‐crystal X‐ray diffraction and Hirshfeld surface analysis. This fleximer in silico binding affinity is studied to analyze the role of flexibility in noncovalent binding affinity toward the COX‐2 and mGluR2 receptor. Both pyridine ring and phenyl rings are linked with propylene linker. 4,6‐Dimethyl‐2‐(3‐(p‐tolyloxy)propoxy)nicotinonitrile has Z = 4 in the crystal packing and is stabilized by intermolecular noncovalent interactions like C─H···N, C─H···O, C─H···л, л···л, loan pair···л interactions, etc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Are levels of criminal violence lower where emigrants collaborate with the state authorities in the funding and provision of public goods and services? In this article, I examine the causal effect on violence levels in the municipalities participating in Mexico's Three‐for‐One (3×1) Programme for Migrants. Using municipal‐level data for the period between 2001 and 2010, the analysis shows that the implementation of this programme led to an increase in violence in the municipalities in question, and that this effect is driven by the 'war on drugs' initiated by the Mexican government in 2006. Because cartels splinter when kingpins are captured, they look for sources of revenue other than drug smuggling. The budgetary gains obtained via the 3×1 Programme inadvertently increased the returns of extortion and directed the attention of organized criminals to the participant municipalities. The evidence highlights some of the unintended effects that the leveraging of emigrants' money may have in home countries where governments make the so‐called 'kingpin strategy' a centrepiece of their security strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study analyses drug trafficking associated with fisheries around the globe. Records of vessel interdiction carried out between 2010 and 2017 suggest that the global trade of illicit drugs relies increasingly on fishing vessels. Fishery‐based trafficking is growing. A key obstacle to understanding the scope of this problem is the limited data on activities that are intentionally obscured, such as drug trafficking. Using a Fermi estimation technique for determining unknown values from limited data, we analyse 292 known cases of fishing boats engaged in drug shipment between 2010 and 2017. Results suggest that drug shipment sizes per vessel are becoming smaller over time, even as the total flow of drugs is increasing. Counter‐drug enforcement intensifies this effect, suggesting that drug trafficking networks adapt to interdiction efforts making use of smaller vessels to lower the risk of seizure. The use of fishing vessels in drug trans‐shipment has tripled over the past 8 years to about 15% of the global retail value of illicit drugs. Small‐scale fishers are at risk of turning to drug trade as an economic buffer against poverty, especially in contexts of mounting competition over declining fish stocks or strict marine conservation. At the same time, illicit capital flowing from the narcotics trade into fisheries may be driving over‐capitalization of fisheries and unsustainable resource use, ultimately to the detriment of resource‐dependent coastal communities and marine ecosystems. Future research is needed to better understand whether and how small‐scale fishermen turn to drug trade to counter livelihood risks of various kinds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]