Ray Tomlinson

Three years after Mullah Haibatullah Akhundzada, the supreme leader of the Taliban, announced his religious edict banning poppy cultivation, Afghan heroin traders continue to innovate. The latest report by the European Union Drugs Agency (EUDA), published in late May, unearths a complex picture of Afghanistan’s drug industry and its ability to respond to changing market conditions.

The Taliban opium ban, implemented earlier this year, has drastically reduced poppy cultivation in Afghanistan. While some have speculated this might have a significant impact on Europe’s heroin supply, with alarms raised at the potential surge of fentanyl and similar drugs appearing in Europe to replace heroin’s supply, the ban and its effects need to be carefully examined.

Hosting the 2022 World Cup has put Qatar in the global spotlight, causing a substantial international uproar about their treatment of migrant workers, the LGBTQ+ community, freedom of speech, and women's rights. While their human rights records were extensively analysed throughout the tournament, their approach to drug control has not had the same level of scrutiny.