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From Our Own Correspondent: Drug Wars

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Drug Wars

27/08/2016 GMT

BBC World Service - From Our Own Correspondent, Drug Wars

Tales of excess and enjoyment from the Philippines, USA, India and North and South Korea

Stories of mind-altering substances: the Philippines' drug war; opioid overdoses in the USA; the scourge of heroin in India's Punjab state; and the beers of North and South Korea

Tales of mind-altering chemicals - and their consequences - from around the world, introduced by Pascale Harter. In this edition:

The President of the Philippines, Rodrigo Duterte, is unapologetic about his hardline approach to the drug trade and its footsoldiers. There's been a rash of extrajudicial killings recently, with hundreds of alleged drug users and dealers shot on the streets. But who fired the bullets? Jonathan Head recently met a hired assassin in Manila - and she turned out to be a guilt-ridden Catholic mother. 

Drug overdoses now kill more Americans each year than car accidents, and many of those deaths are down to opioid abuse: not just street heroin, but also fentanyl and prescription drugs. Linda Pressly witnesses the aftermath of one such incident in Ohio.

According to figures from central government, Punjab state has a particularly acute heroin problem - worse than the rest of India. Mark Tully asks some local police, drug workers and politicians what's at the heart of the trouble. 

And while alcohol might be legal in many countries - and is certainly so widely socially accepted that many people don't see it as a drug at all - it definitely has its own effects on consumers. Stephen Evans taste-tests some Taedonggang beer from Pyongyang and draws a few conclusions about tipplers' preferences in both North and South Korea. 

Picture: Relatives stand beside the body of a police intelligence officer killed during a botched drug raid which also killed three drug suspects on August 20, 2016 in Manila, Philippines. (Dondi Tawatao/Getty Images)

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