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BRUSSELS (AP) Drug trafficking and use across the European Union are returning to pre-pandemic levels, according to the latest report published by the blocs drug agency on Tuesday.

As COVID-19 restrictions and increased border controls have been relaxed on the continent, the EMCDDA said drugs are available in large quantities in the region, and in some cases above pre-pandemic levels.

Hundreds of drug production laboratories are being dismantled, and new psychoactive substances are appearing in the bloc every week. In 2021, 52 new drugs were reported for the first time, the agency said.

For me, the take-home message that stands out from our analysis of drug trends in 2022 can be summarized as Everywhere. Everything. Everyone, said the agency director, Alexis Goosdeel.

About 83.4 million people aged 15-64 in the EU, or 29% of that population, are estimated to have ever used an illicit drug, with more men than women reporting use.

The agency said cannabis remains the most popular substance, with over 22 million people reporting its use in 2021, ahead of cocaine, MDMA and amphetamines. Some 1 million Europeans used heroin or another illicit opioid. An estimated 5,800 overdose deaths occurred in the EU in 2020, the most recent year for which that figure was provided.

The report pointed to an increased use of social media applications and encrypted messaging services to get access to products during the pandemic, a model that is likely to persist.

The agency said last month that record amounts of cocaine are being seized in Europe while manufacturing of the drug is now taking place inside the the EU.

While the agency said its too early to assess the impact on heroin trafficking of the return to power of the Taliban in Afghanistan, the agency noted it could lead to an increase. According to the report, poppy cultivation continues in the country despite a ban on production and sale.

The countrys current financial problems might make drug revenues a more important source of income, the report said.

The report also looked at the war in Ukraine, noting that the conflict could have consequences for smuggling routes.

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'Everywhere. Everything. Everyone': Drugs are back in the EU - The Associated Press

The European Court of Human Rights stopped the first Rwanda flight from leaving the UK

Last night, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) launched a last-minute intervention to halt the flight carrying seven migrants to Rwanda.

There has been much dismay over how the Court has been able to override the rulings of the British High Court, Court of Appeals and Supreme Court.

The authority of the ECHR to intervene in this case is based on the UKs membership of the Council of Europe (CoE).

The CoE is an organisation which aims to uphold human rights throughout its member states. It is distinct from the European Union as it is solely based on protecting human rights.

For example, Turkey and Monaco are members of the CoE without being members of the European Union, as the UK is.

Membership of the CoE means the countries are subject to the authority of the ECHR. The ECHR rules on potential violations of the European Convention on Human Rights.

The plane that was scheduled to leave for Rwanda Andrew Matthews

Individuals can make applications to the ECHR which, if successful, would override the rulings of the state in which they are residing. In this case, an Iraqi national made an application to the ECHR for them to indicate an urgent interim measure.

Interim measures are an order from the ECHR to delay the implementation of a policy or decision in their member states. They are normally issued in cases of expulsion or deportation.

In the Rules of Court for the ECHR, it is written that "interim measures are only applied in exceptional cases.

"The court will only issue an interim measure against a Member State where, having reviewed all the relevant information, it considers that the applicant faces a real risk of serious, irreversible harm if the measure is not applied."

In this case, the ECHR has indicated to the UK government in a press release that the Iraqi national should not be removed to Rwanda until "three weeks after the delivery of the final domestic decision in his ongoing judicial review proceedings".

Demonstrators at a removal centre at Gatwick protest against plans to send migrants to Rwanda Victoria Jones

The press release also lays out their reasoning. They contend , in line with the view of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, "that asylum-seekers transferred from the United Kingdom to Rwanda will not have access to fair and efficient procedures for the determination of refugee status".

Additionally, they argue that "the finding by the High Court that the question whether the decision to treat Rwanda as a safe third country was irrational or based on insufficient enquiry gave rise to serious triable issues".

As such, the ECHR concluded that there was a "resulting risk of treatment contrary to the applicants Convention rights".

The court also highlighted that Rwanda is not a part of the European Convention on Human Rights, casting further uncertainty over the fate of the migrants once deported.

The European Convention on Human Rights is enshrined in the Human Rights Act of 1998. This means that the articles of the convention are enforceable in British courts.

Interim measures have been issued before in cases pertaining to deportation and removal. In September 2010, the ECHR indicated an interim measure to the French government in the case of Y.P. and L.P. v France.

The applicant was a former Belarusian resident who had applied to asylum in France following repeated persecution and targeted violence due to his opposition to the leading regime.

The French Office for the Protection of Refugees and Stateless Persons (OFPRA) rejected their request. Y.P. then applied to the ECHR arguing that returning to Belarus would lead to significant harm being inflicted on him and his family.

This led to an interim measure being issued which delayed the deportation until legal proceedings in the ECHR itself were completed.

Eventually the applicant was allowed to remain due to the judgement made by the court that the deportation would contravene article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

This article enshrines the protection of individuals from torture or degrading punishment.

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Key differences between the Council of Europe and the European Union explained after Rwanda mess - GB News

The European Union will sign an agreement with an undisclosed manufacturer on Tuesday for the supply of about 110,000 doses of vaccines against monkeypox to be delivered from the end of June, EU health commissioner Stella Kyriakides said.

On the sidelines of a meeting of EU health ministers in Luxembourg on Tuesday, Ms Kyriakides said the vaccines will be bought with EU funds and delivered to EU states.

Commission officials said the name of the vaccine maker will be unveiled shortly.

The bloc's drug regulator said this month it was in talks with Danish biotech firm Bavarian Nordic over trial data that could underpin an extension of the approved use of the Imvanex shot, known as Jynneosin the United States, beyond smallpox to include monkeypox.

The US regulator has approved Bavarian's smallpox vaccine for use against monkeypox.

Some EU states, including Germany and Spain, have made their own orders for monkeypox vaccines.

Ms Kyriakides said the EU had recorded 900 cases of monkeypox.

There are confirmed cases in 24 different countries across Europe.

There have been 34 countries in which monkeypox is not endemic that have reported outbreaks of the viral disease, with the total number of confirmed cases approaching1,500.

Monkeypox is making headlines because it is spreading in an unusual manner.

Australia has recorded eight case of monkeypox so far.

The WHO said the monkeypox outbreak outside Africa would not lead to a pandemic, but it was considering whether the outbreak should be assessed as a "potential public health emergency of international concern".

Reuters/ABC

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European Union to buy 110,000 monkeypox vaccines as number of cases in Europe passes 900 - ABC News

1. Randall Upton: The Second Amendment means what?  Longmont Times-Call
2. Letter: What the Second Amendment is for | Opinion | news-journal.com  Longview News-Journal
3. In your opinion: It's time to repeal the Second Amendment  Oneonta Daily Star
4. Letter: The Second Amendment made sense in 1787 | Letters | lagrandeobserver.com  La Grande Observer
5. Letter: Interpreting the Second Amendment | Letters To Editor | berkshireeagle.com  Berkshire Eagle
6. View Full Coverage on Google News

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Randall Upton: The Second Amendment means what? - Longmont Times-Call

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Longtime liberal radio host Bill Press wrote an op-ed Thursday calling for the Second Amendment to be outright repealed.

"The only effective way to deal with the Second Amendment is to repeal it and then replace it with something that makes sense in a civilized society," Press wrote for CNN in an article titled "Theres no way to fix the Second Amendment. Lets just get rid of it."

"I'm hardly the first person to say that the Second Amendment has been a disaster for this country. In fact, two Supreme Court justices justices appointed by Republican presidents have said as much," he added.

SUPPORT FOR ASSAULT WEAPONS BAN HITS ALL-TIME LOW FOLLOWING UVALDE SHOOTING: POLL

"Theres no way to fix the Second Amendment. Lets just get rid of it," radio host Bill Press wrote.

Press cited former Chief Justice Warren Burger, who in 1991 told PBS that "If I were writing the Bill of Rights now, there wouldn't be any such thing as the Second Amendment."

Burger, who also presided over Roe v. Wade, is quoted as calling the Second Amendment "one of the greatest pieces of fraud" in American history.

Press reiterated the claim and expounded on it. He wrote, "Indeed, you only have to read the Second Amendment to see what a fraud it's become."

He claimed that "there's no way you can logically leap" from the text of the Second Amendment "to the unfettered right of any citizen to buy as many guns and any kind of gun that they want, without the government being able to do anything about it."

NEW YORK ENACTS MICROSTAMPING GUN LAW IN PUSH TO CHANGE HOW FIREARMS ARE MADE

With loaded firearms in hand and flags all around, people gather for a five-mile Open Carry March for Freedom organized by Florida Gun Supply in Inverness, Florida. (Reuters/Chris Tilley)

"It's clear from the wording of the Second Amendment itself that it has nothing to do with individual gun ownership; nothing to do with self-defense; and nothing to do with assault weapons. The amendment speaks, not to the rights of well-armed individual citizens, but only to citizens as members of a group, a well regulated militia," he wrote.

"The founders saw no need to mention guns in the original Constitution. As many constitutional scholars and American historians have shown, the Second Amendment was added later by James Madison as part of a deal to secure the support of Patrick Henry and other White racist Virginians for confirmation of the Constitution."

Press cited Carol Anderson, an academic who "describes the anti-Blackness at the heart of the Second Amendment."

Sen. Ted Cruz speaks during the National Rifle Association's annual meeting on May 27, 2022, in Houston. (AP Photo/Michael Wyke)

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He wrote that "the amendment has nothing to do with self-defense or allowing ownership of any kind of gun."

Press criticized Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, as a "gun worshipper" for supporting the Second Amendment, which he claimed enabled the Uvalde shooter. "We are a sick nation indeed, if we allow that idiocy to stand," he wrote.

"We are condemned to more and more mass killings until we do the right thing: Stop arguing about the Second Amendment and just get rid of it."

Joe Silverstein is a production assistant for Fox News Digital.

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CNN op-ed calls for repeal of the Second Amendment: Let's just get rid of it - Fox News