NEWSBRIEFS	TOPICS International
x

• September - October 1998
  •  Switzerland Expands Heroin Maintenance Program
  • 18-Person Massacre in Mexico Linked to Drug Trade

• July - August 1998
  • "Drug Czar" McCaffrey, Attacking Dutch Drug Policy, Misrepresents Murder Rate on European Tour
  • U.S. Military Role in Colombia Increasing as Anti-Drug Efforts Include Anti-Guerrilla Mission
  • Colombia May Test Potent Herbicide to Eradicate Coca
  • Plans for Panama Anti-Drug Center Faltering
     
• March - April 1998
  • U.N. Says Popular Culture Glamorizing Drug Use; Laments Free Speech, Calls for Government Control of Public Expression
  • Global Protest Scheduled For UN Drug Policy Meeting in June
  • Germany to Distribute Prescription Heroin
  • Czech President Vetoes Drug Law Citing Human Rights Concerns
     
• February 1998
  • Clinton Administration Recertifies Mexico, Grants Waiver to Colombia, as Partners in Anti-Drug Effort
     
• January 1998
  • British Minister's Son Arrested For Selling Marijuana in Newspaper Sting; U.K. Marijuana Decriminalization Debate Stimulated
  • Israeli Group Seeks Amnesty For Drug Prisoners
  • France Approves Medical Marijuana Experiment, Debates Marijuana Decriminalization

• November - December 1997
  • United Nations Offers 10-Year Opiate Eradication Plan
  • 10 Latin American Cities Sign Declaration Criticizing Global Anti-Drug Efforts
  • United Kingdom Appoints First "Drug Tsar," While Marijuana Decriminalization Debate Grows
  • Colombia Approves Bill Limiting Extradition of Drug Traffickers
  • Russian Organized Criminals Tied to Colombian Drug Traffickers, Says FBI Director
  • Drug Dealers Donate to the Church, Says Mexican Priest
  • "Narco-Ballads" Gain Popularity With Mexicans
  • Canadian Ambassador to Mexico Quits After Drug Corruption Remarks
  • Australians Spend $7 Billion Yearly on Illegal Drugs
     
• August 1997
  • Illegal Drug Trafficking Represents 8% of World Trade, Says U.N. Report
  • Military Rife With Drug Corruption, Reports Mexican Newspaper Procesco
  • Cambodian Coup Leader Financed by Drug Traffickers, According to Western Anti-Drug Officials
  • Multinational Anti-Drug Center May Be Built in Panama
  • Thai Lawmaker's Anti-Drug Protest Leads to His Investigation
     
• July 1997
  • China Will Strengthen Its Control of Caffeine
  • Vietnam Drug Trial Ends in Eight Death Sentences
  • Seven Mexican Law Enforcement Agents Charged in Half-Ton Cocaine Theft
    

• May - June 1997
  • Prime Minister Tony Blair to Appoint British "Drug Czar"
  • Nigerian Afrobeat Musician Fela Charged With Marijuana Offenses, Granted Bail
  • Proposal for Multinational Anti-Drug Coalition Advanced
  • British Author Admits Taking Heroin on Prime Minister John Major's Plane
     
• March - April 1997
  • Mexican Drug Czar Fired, Charged With Drug Corruption
  • Mexico Recertified and Colombia Decertified Again as Cooperating Partners in U.S. Anti-Drug Effort; U.S. House Votes to Overturn Mexican Certification and U.S. Senate Votes a Reprimand
     
• February 1997
  • U.S. to Aid Peru in Coca and Cocaine Interdiction on Jungle Rivers
  • U.S-Caribbean Relations Grow Tense Over Anti-Drug Treaty with Jamaica
     
• January 1997
  • SWITZERLAND: Voters Endorse Heroin Maintenance Program
  • MEXICO: Anti-Drug Journalists and 8th Drug Prosecutor Murdered
     
• November 1996
  • Colombian President Speaks at U.N., Drugs Found on His Plane
  • MEXICO: 700 Federal Police Agents Fired, Seven Senior Anti-Drug Officials Murdered
  • European Union Commissioner Calls for Drug Legalization
     
• September 1996
  • Vigilantes in South Africa Murder Suspected Drug Dealer in Fight Against Drugs and Gangs
  • Ireland Proposes the "Drug War" to be European Union Priority, Germany Joins France in Criticizing the Netherlands
• Summer 1996
  • Colombian House Absolves President Ernesto Samper, U.S. Revokes His Visa
  • "Speed" Renamed in Thailand to Correct Misunderstanding

• May 1996
  • Drug Policy Fuels Feud Between France and the Netherlands

• April 1996
  • U.S. Releases Annual Report Card on International Antinarcotics Progress, Decertifies Colombia, Gives Full Certification to Mexico
  • Samper Charged, But Clinging to Presidency; Escaped Cali Leader Killed by Police
  • United Nations Releases Annual Report Card on Global Antinarcotics Efforts
  • New Allegations of Bribery in Noriega Trial

• March 1996
  • Colombia Update: Prison Guards Arrested, U.S. Certification Questionable, Samper Asks Colombian Congress for Investigation, Key Witness Murdered

• February 1996
  • Suspected Mexican Cartel Leader Arrested, Extradited to the U.S.
  • One Cali Drug Cartel Leader Escapes Prison, Second Negotiating His Surrender; Colombian President Faces Mounting Accusations of Taking Cartel Money, Resignation Pressure Growing
  • Burma's Khun Sa Reportedly Surrenders, U.S. Offers Reward

• January 1996
  • de Greiff Under Federal Investigation For Alleged Ties to Drug Cartels
  • European Union Pledges Cooperation in Stopping Drugs
  • Rensselaer Lee Warns of Growing Influence of Criminal Organizations and Drug Trafficking in Former Soviet Republics

• December 1995
  • Clinton Announces New Initiative Against Global Drug Trafficking Syndicates at U.N. Conference, Signs Order Barring Named Individuals and Companies From Trade and Commerce
  • Colombia Update: Samper Campaign Scandal Continues; Allegations Made Against Drug Prosecutor Gustavo de Greiff; Noriega Alleges U.S. Withheld Evidence That Cali Cartel Bribed Witness to Testify Against Him; Arrests Change U.S. Drug Market
  • Germany Allows Hemp Cultivation

• November 1995
  • Colombia Update: Relations With U.S. Strained, Political Fallout Continues, Another Arrest Made
  • Morocco Remains Foremost Supplier of Marijuana to Europe

• October 1995
  • Drug Scandal Implicates Colombian President
  • Seventeen Aircraft Downed in Colombia and Peru Since Resumption of U.S. Intelligence
  • Vice President Gore Envisions Defeat of Colombian Cartels

• May 1995
  • The New Yorker Article Looks at Meaning of Coca in Andean Society
  • International Relations Scholar Warns of Growing Influence of Drug Cartels

• April 1995
  • Colombian Guerrillas Attack Drug-Eradicating Helicopters
  • United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs Advocates Stepping Up Demand Reduction Measures
  • Hempispheric Conference Finds Prevention Best Way to Fight Drug Abuse
  • Washington Post Examines Links Among Mexican Government, Economy and Drug Traffickers; Alleges U.S. Aware of Traffickers' Influence
  • Nobel Prize Winner Gabriel Garcia Marquez Suggests Solutions to Colombian Drug Problems

• September 1996
  • Vigilantes in South Africa Murder Suspected Drug Dealer in Fight Against Drugs and Gangs
  • Ireland Proposes the "Drug War" to be European Union Priority, Germany Joins France in Criticizing the Netherlands

• March 1995
  • 1994 Review Released by U.N. International Narcotics Control Board
  • U.S. Struggles With Policy to Squelch Flow of Heroin From Burma
  • European Conference Targets Drug Trafficking in Central and Eastern Europe
  • United Nations and European Commission To Hold Forums on Demand Reduction

• February 1995
  • Peru Cracks Down on Drugs in Wake of U.S. Resumption of Information-Sharing
  • Brazil Bans Cigarette Ads
  • Swaziland Sees Increase in Drug Trafficking, Decrease in Gun-Running
  • Colombia's Children Victims of Drug War
  • 93 Prisoners Escape in Prison Break in Colombia
  • Germany Tests "Safe Areas" for Heroin Addicts

• January 1995
  • U.S. Will Resume Sharing Information with Colombia and Peru
  • DEA Says Cali Cartel "The New Kingpins of Cocaine"
  • Colombia's Military Leaders Fired

• November 1994
  • DEA, State Department Continue Investigation of Haitian Leaders
  • Brother of Assassinated Mexican Party Leader Accuses Drug Organizations
  • Military Occupies Rio's Shanty Towns to Fight Brazilian Drug War, U.S. Supports Military's Role
  • British Government Releases New Drug Strategy

• September-October 1994
  • Informer Links Haitian President Aristide to Medellin Cartel

• August 1994
  • U.S. Continues to Withhold Real-Time Information on Suspected Andean Drug Flights
  • Nigeria Ranked as a Pariah State for Drug Dealing
  • Criminal Groups Internationalize Their Operations

• July 1994
  • German High Court Legalizes Use and Possession of Small Amounts of Cannabis
  • Many Events Straining Relations Between U.S. and Columbia
  • Brief Void From Demise of Pablo Escobar and Medellin Cartel Being Filled by Cali Cartel
  • United States Surveillance Efforts Tracking Drug Flights in the Andes to Resume
  • Haitian Military Implicated in Drug Trade
  • FBI Expands Its Role in International Crime Fighting
  • Head of Interpol Calls for Decriminalization
  • New Liquor Laws in Delhi Restrict Alcohol Consumptio

• July 1993
  • Swiss Experiment to Obtain Data for Making Drug Policy
  • Russia and Former Soviet Union
  • Iran Arrests Eight Thousand Addicts in Five Days
  • Drug Trade on Pakistani Frontier May Fuel Radical Islamic Terrorism

• June 1993
  • Leading Mafia Fugitive Captured in Sicily
  • Italian Voters Decriminalize Virtually All Drug Possession
  • Mexican Cardinal Killed in Shootout by Traffickers at Guadalajara Airport
  • Top Drug Cartels Penetrating Mexican Government, Judiciary at All Levels
  • Mexican Police Kill Top Cocaine Trafficker
  • Colombian Officials Continue Battling Poppy Farmers in Mountains
  • Chinese Fight Growing Addiction With Draconian Penalties
  • Taiwan Broadens Application of Death Penalty Following Record Heroin Seizure
  • Pakistani Tribal Leaders Criticize West as Hypocritical for Opposing Opium
  • One-Ton Cocaine Shipment in Russia Reflects New Colombian Link, Officials Say
  • Dozens Beheaded as Saudis Unsuccessfully Try to Stem Drug Traffic

• April 1993
  • U.S. Southern Command Officials See Drug War As Top Priority
  • U.S. Funding of Latin Anti-Drug War Sharply Curtailed
  • Andean Drug Policy Failure, U.S., Latin Officials Say
  • South America
    • Escobar Now Subjected to Terror by Former Allies
    • Cali Cartel Consolidates Hold on International Cocaine Trade
    • Mexican Drug Trade Is Violently on the Rebound
  • Europe
    • Dutch Tolerance Persists Despite Pressure to Emulate Drug War Approach
  • Asia
    • Jade and Heroin Trades Overlap in Myanmar, World's Major Opium Producer
  • Iran
    • Iranians Executing Hundreds Each Year for Drug Trafficking
  • India
    • Drug Dealer May Have Set Bombs in Bombay

• March 1993
  • South America
    • New Wave of Bombings Rock Bogota as Fugitive Escobar Steps Up Terror
    • Vigilante Groups Use Terror Tactics in Revenge Against Fugitive Escobar
    • Bolivian Failure to Curb Cocaine Production Spurs U.S. Aid Cut
    • Corruption and Cocaine Trafficking Booming Under Fujimori
    • Andean Coca Farmers Still Find Coca Most Lucrative Crop
    • Apparent Drug-Business Feud Sparks Shooting of 24 After Mexican Funeral
  • Europe
    • Overcrowded Jails Spur Italy to Ease Drug Possession Laws
    • Conflicting Views of Priorities Exist in U.S.-European Anti-Drug Strategy
    • Multi-Ton Seizures of Morphine Confirm Burgeoning Heroin Market
  • Southeast Asia
    • Burmese Military Implicated in Opium Trade as Production Booms

• February 1993
  • South America
    • Money Laundering, Drug Smuggling Still Flourish in Panama
    • Panamanian Officials Fired for Positive Drug Tests
  • Strait of Gilbraltar
    • Morocco Tries to Stem Flow of Drugs, Migrants to Europe
  • Europe
    • Sicilian Mafia Boss and Convicted Heroin Trafficker Captured

• January 1993
  • World Drug Trade Feeds Diverse Rebellions
  • Europe
    • Anti-Mafia Prosecutor Accused of Crime Links Kills Self
    • Former Diplomat Charged in London to Washington Heroin Sting
  • Colombia
    • Pablo Escobar Sees Options Narrow
    • Colombian Kingpin Gets 17-Year Term in Colombia
  • Mexico
    • Man Convicted in DEA Agent Camarena's Torture Death
    • Likely Mexican Governor Accused of Murder, Reporter Is Fired
  • Saudi Arabia
    • Hashish Smuggler Among Six Beheaded by Saudis