Officials hope the three-year pilot project in British Columbia will remove the stigma and shame around using drugs, recount addiction as a health issue, and consequently urge people to seek help.
Nagaenthran Dharmalingam, 34, had been on death row for over a decade after he was convicted of trafficking about 43 grams of heroin into Singapore.
The Taliban vowed to ban drugs, but the trade appears to be booming under their rule.
Narco-traffickers defied Covid-19 and now look set to reach new heights, as the stars are aligning for a further expansion of their trade.
While the Taliban insisted they would ban narcotic production, major seizures in the region indicate the trade hasn’t missed a beat.
The Taliban is not desperate to get foreign funding going-- thanks to the unofficial revenue sources.
Drug overdoses soared due to the long cycle of pandemic-induced isolation, killing 93,331 Americans in 2020.
In addition to more widespread availability and higher purity, the pandemic has pushed the narcotics trade to become more creative in its distribution.
A large meth industry has rapidly emerged that could eventually rival the country’s massive opium trade, adding yet another dimension to Afghanistan’s spiralling drug crisis.
About 540 kg of cocaine is the largest single seizure of the drug in Turkey's history, Turkish officials say.
Data from 2015 showed that Afghanistan already had around three million drug addicts - a huge part of its 37 million strong population.
One Woman Takes on Drug Addiction in Afghanistan
Subscribe to our Youtube channel for all latest in-depth, on the ground reporting from around the world.
Copyright © 2023 TRT World.