Teenagers are drinking less alcohol and smoking less, both tobacco and cannabis. In fact, consumption of these two substances is at historic lows among 14- to 18-year-olds since records began in Spain in 1988. Meanwhile, alcohol consumption continues its downward trend of recent years, matching its lowest point, which was recorded in 2021. This is according to the Ministry of Health's survey of secondary school students. "Young people in our country have the healthiest habits of the last 25 years. The new generations are changing; they are increasingly aware of the risks and are taking better care of themselves," said Minister Mónica García. She also made it clear that there are still challenges to overcome, such as reducing the prevalence of alcohol consumption and making progress in controlling new tobacco products.

Barcelona wants to change the way alcohol is perceived and accessed in the city to "denormalize" its consumption and reduce the opportunities for access. This is the main line of action of the new Action Plan on Drugs and Addictions 2025-2028, a document that incorporates a gender perspective for the first time since the first program was launched in 1987. "Alcohol continues to be the most consumed psychoactive substance in the Catalan capital and is the main reason for starting treatment, both in men and women," said Marta Villanueva, Councilor for Health at Barcelona City Council, during the presentation of the plan.

Japan is beginning to open up about drugs: the country is further tightening its zero-tolerance policy on narcotics. Since last December, consuming marijuana is no longer just a social taboo or a legal gray area: it's a criminal offense. At the end of March, Tokyo police arrested two people for the first time—a 44-year-old man and a woman—accused of using cannabis after failing a urine test.

Inspection raid on cannabis stores this Thursday in Barcelona. Fifty Urban Police officers, accompanied by representatives from the inspection services of the City Council, the Barcelona Public Health Agency (ASPB), and Treball, simultaneously entered 35 such stores this afternoon to seize food products containing cannabis or cannabis derivatives. An operation dubbed candy (candy) that comes two weeks after the Ministry of Health banned the sale and distribution of sweets made with semi-synthetic cannabis derivatives throughout the country.

The rain that fell this March has caused the rivers to run full like they haven't in a long time and has caused water to flow once again from the streams that had dried up. The news has pleased much of the country, but the Mossos d'Esquadra (Catalan police) who fight marijuana trafficking know that this increase in water greatly benefits traffickers who have marijuana plantations hidden in the Catalan mountains. The drought of the last four years has been a great ally of the police, since the greatest difficulty drug traffickers face in planting in the mountains is access to water. And this has, in fact, been the clue that has most helped the Mossos in their pursuit of this drug.

Finding cannabis plantations in the mountains isn't easy, but in addition to the water reservoirs—which allow them to tighten the perimeter—the Mossos d'Esquadra have a great ally: the local residents. Unlike in other areas, where officers have much more difficulty finding actively cooperating citizens, informants work very well in the mountains. Farmers, shepherds, hunters, rural agents, or simply local residents already have the contact information of the police officer in charge and alert them to any unusual movement. "A few weeks ago, a resident of a mountain village alerted us that she heard a brushcutter that didn't belong to anyone in the village," explains Jaume Carbó, the Mossos d'Esquadra corporal responsible for the Rural Environment of Alt Camp and Head of the Office of Relations with the Community. Since this is the time of year when traffickers clear the mountains to plant crops, the officers gave maximum credibility to the informant's testimony and responded immediately. Guided by the roar of the brush cutter's engine, they managed to find the hiding place.

Without making much noise, the Barcelona City Council sent out a statement at the end of July warning that "cannabis associations will have to adapt to a new legal situation". The council issued the warning after a ruling by the High Court of Justice of Catalonia (TSJC) that overturned the municipal urban planning regulations for cannabis clubs. The TSJC argued that the City Council is not competent to regulate them, "not even from the urbanistic point of view", because it considers that they are spaces "susceptible of committing crimes". It claims that it is the exclusive competence of the State.