The US has already made what Secretary of State Antony Blinken calls a 'substantial offer' to secure the release of Americans detained in Russia, including basketball star Brittney Griner and former Marine Paul Whelan.

Several such outlets have sprung up across the capital since Thailand decriminalised the plant in June, a few weeks before it dropped Covid-linked controls on foreign visitors.

Officials described finding the trailer's rear door ajar with bodies stacked inside that were hot to the touch.

Health authorities say they have been short of critical medicines, including those used to treat addicts, because of Sri Lanka's economic crisis.

The UN says the number of dismantled amphetamine laboratories in Ukraine rose from 17 in 2019 to 79 in 2020, the highest number of seized laboratories reported in any country in 2020.

Cannabis has long been the world's most widely used drug and that use is increasing while the cannabis on the market is getting stronger in terms of its tetrahydrocannabinol content, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime says.

At least one person has died and several were hospitalised this week after consuming or smoking marijuana.

Lawyers for Liberty says enforcement authorities have 'no business' taking public positions on policies and legislation.

According to Thailand's corrections department, 3,000 people have been freed from prison after being held on cannabis-related crimes since the law changed this week.

The government, banking on the plant as a cash crop, plans to give away a million plants to encourage farmers to take up its cultivation.

Zainal Abidin Alias and Mohamed Rizal face whipping and life imprisonment if found guilty.

Many who enter into a life of crime there come from poor backgrounds and say they had no choice.