Want the best of VICE News straight to your inbox? Sign up here. For decades, people found guilty of federal offenses involving crack—the cheaper, smokable version of cocaine—have faced lengthier, harsher prison sentences than those convicted of crimes related to the snortable, powder version of the drug. Blame a moral panic in the 1980s and
Want the best of VICE News straight to your inbox? Sign up here. For decades, people found guilty of federal offenses involving crack—the cheaper, smokable version of cocaine—have faced lengthier, harsher prison sentences than those convicted of crimes related to the snortable, powder version of the drug. Blame a moral panic in the ‘80s and
A vicious gang war behind bars erupted this week, killing 116 inmates and injuring another 80 in an Ecuadorian prison in one of the deadliest prison riots in history, officials said. The latest conflict began with explosions and gunshots at the Litoral prison in the coastal city of Guayaquil on Tuesday. It took Ecuadorian police
Twitter and Instagram recently cracked down on a Colombian man who supposedly produced a ton of cocaine and tried to sell it online. But the “cocaine” didn't get you high. In fact, you couldn't even snort it if you wanted to. Camilo Restrepo, a Medellin based artist, had created “a ton” of what he termed
Hong Kong customs have seized about $19 million worth of methamphetamine disguised as coconut oil, in the city’s biggest airborne liquid meth trafficking bust in two decades. Customs officers said they were suspicious after a batch of 7,680 bottles of coconut oil were imported into Hong Kong from Mexico on Sept. 14, given that the
Want the best of VICE News straight to your inbox? Sign up here. Two congressmen are trying to pass a bill to protect U.S. Border Patrol agents from a problem drug policy experts say doesn’t exist: overdoses caused by second-hand fentanyl exposure. On Monday, Rep. Henry Cuellar, a Democrat from Texas, and his Republican colleague
Yolo County, in California’s agricultural Central Valley, where tract homes and auto-body shops spring up across the street from pastures and orchards, has some of the same homelessness and substance-abuse problems fueling the ghastly street theater seen on skid rows in San Francisco and Los Angeles. But if Gov. Gavin Newsom signs into law a
In the midst of a global labour shortage, employers around the world are doing away with drug tests in a desperate bid to attract more job applicants, fill more roles and retain more workers. A survey, conducted by staffing firm ManpowerGroup and released this week, indicated that 9 percent of more than 45,000 employers worldwide
TULUM, Mexico — The smoking of a powerful hallucinogenic toad venom in short retreats, a practice known as “speed-toading,” is exploding in the Caribbean tourist hub of Tulum, where it’s now a sought-after New Age healing tool. Bufo alvarius, which contains the fast-acting psychedelic 5-MeO-DMT—regarded by many as the world’s most powerful psychoactive substance—and often
MEXICO CITY—Numerous surveillance videos leaked to VICE World News show gunmen in Mexican special forces uniforms breaking a cartel boss out of jail just miles from the U.S. border. The shocking footage shows at least four gunmen wearing bulletproof vests with the logo of the Mexican Navy special forces (UNOPES for its Spanish acronym) storming