Startups in Nigeria are helping fight counterfeit pharmaceutical drugs in Africa's most populous nation, where the prevalence rate of fake drugs is higher than the global average and contributes to the deaths of thousands of children and adults annually.

Twenty years ago, Portugal was plagued with heroin addiction and HIV infections. The country decided to take a new approach to the problem, becoming the first in the world to decriminalise drug taking. Since then, drug users are no longer treated as criminals to be locked up in jail, but as people who need medical care and supervision. The gamble has paid off, as our team found out.

The International Criminal Court said it was suspending the investigation it launched in September to look into a deferral request by Manila. Human rights groups slammed the decision, urging it to continue work.

The boy had stolen the cannabis from his father and, along with friends, set it alight, police said. The father is being investigated for drug possession.

The head of Nigeria’s National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Mohammed Buba Marwa, is proposing a mandatory drug test for persons intending to get married. In the opinion of the retired army general, compulsory drug tests for intending couples will reduce the prevalence of drug abuse in Nigeria. GuardianTV went to the Federal Marriage Registry, in Ikoyi, Lagos, to sample the opinion of Nigerians – including a few recently wed – on how they feel about Marwa’s proposal.

The killing of a top journalist in the Netherlands shows that drugs gangs are increasingly likely to use violence, a new German report shows. It also highlighted increased trafficking of "New Psychoactive Substances."

Thousands protest in the Philippines capital Manila as they mark one year left in power for President Rodrigo Duterte. The groups -- from several different sectors -- are calling for Duterte to step down. Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte hailed his signature drug war policy, but lamented there was a "long way" to go in the controversial crackdown that has killed thousands of people.

Four drugs companies in the United States have agreed to pay up to $26 billion to settle claims that they fuelled an opioid addiction crisis in the country. The deal was unveiled by a group of state attorneys general and could settle thousands of cases over the epidemic. Opioid addiction is estimated to have claimed over one million lives in the US. Individual states and local governments will now have to sign up to the deal, but there are divisions over how the payout will be shared.

Afghan security forces set fire to a pile of seized narcotics and alcohol during the National Mobilization Week against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking, in the Deh Sabz district on the outskirts of Kabul.

In this Special report, TVC News Correspondent samples the opinions of Igangan residents and indigenes on the state of security three months after the mayhem unleashed by the armed herdsmen.

Chaotic scenes outside a medical store in New Delhi, India selling remdesivir as family members of hospitalised Covid-19 patients desperately search for the antiviral drug, which is facing severe shortages. Despite India's status as the "pharmacy of the world", the biggest producer of generic drugs has been unable to meet the demand for antiviral medication such as remdesivir and favipiravir.

Misuse of drugs responsible for mortality in Africa - WHO