Drug culture

Dr. Panagiotis Behrakis and the Hellenic Armed Forces were the honorees of the American-Hellenic Institute's (AHI) annual Hellenic Heritage Achievement and Public Service Awards Dinner.

And the figure is 1.1 percent higher year-on-year, the Statistical Office has announced.

In relation to December 2017, the increase was 1.2 percent.

Two years after pop icon Prince died of an overdose, prosecutors said Thursday they would not file any criminal charges and announced a settlement with a US doctor who prescribed powerful painkillers for the star.

Istanbul's İş Sanat will host Glykeria, one of Greece's most important voices who is known as "the queen of rebetiko," on April. 3. 

A decade after a ban on smoking in public spaces was voted into law, nonsmokers are growing increasingly irate at authorities for their failure to enforce the measure.

Police in Kastoria, northern Greece, seized 61 kilos of hashish and arrested two people on Monday after a search of their car.

The 34-year-old driver and his passenger, a 31-year-old woman, were stopped by police for a routine check.

They were arrested after police found the cannabis resin in four sacks, as well as a pistol.

"I admit I was shocked when my son came back drunk on Saturday night. He's only 15 years old and had been out with friends, just as on many other weekends. He wasn't late, but he was a mess. They'd been to a club in Glyfada, where they had beers and shots! How could they serve alcohol to kids?" one shocked father told Kathimerini on the condition of anonymity.

Greece's health ministry has asked the police to stigmatize punishment for citizens who smoke in their cars or in the presence of children.

The request was made on the basis of the Law on the banning of cigarette smoking in public places. The law provides for a fine of 1,500 euros for everybody who smokes in his private car and 3,000 euros for smoking in an official or state car.

American rocker Tom Petty died in October of an accidental drug overdose after taking a variety of medications for his ailments including a mix of opioid painkillers, his family and the Los Angeles county medical examiner said Jan. 19.

Turkish Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu has vowed to step up the fight against drugs being sold outside schools, saying that police officers should not hesitate to use force against those selling drugs to the country’s youth.