Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez is being outed to U.S. federal prosecutors as a mastermind of an international criminal regime by one of the world's most notorious drug kingpins, Walid Makled-Garcia.

Venezuela's impeached supreme court justice, Judge Eladio Aponte-Aponte describes a judicial system that is systematically corrupted by Chávista cronies and military leaders who have made billions of dollars trafficking in cocaine and laundering the proceeds of an international criminal syndicate.

Venezuela's dictator Hugo Chávez was informed five years ago that his close ally Gen. Henry Rangel Silva – the man whom he recently named Defense Minister – is involved in cocaine smuggling.

For at least four decades Colombia has been synonymous with the costly war against narcotics. But a different kind of drug war brought me to Bogotá - the fight against counterfeit and substandard pharmaceuticals.

Last month, the Drug Enforcement Administration abruptly revoked the narcotics license held by the distributor Cardinal Health, preventing that firm from shipping prescription pain drugs to thousands of Florida pharmacies and hospitals. It's the latest tactic in the DEA's struggle to stem the illicit use of prescription painkillers like OxyContin and Vicodin.

A neuroscientist recalls how a host of substances took over his life and how, at last, he learned to impose new patterns of thought and behavior.

With 100,000 patients dying every year from dangerous medicines, it is time to take concrete actions. Establishing a treaty against fake medicines should be the first step.

The Venezuelan opposition is waiting for a showdown in presidential elections set for Oct. 7, but a corrupt Chavista cadre has already seized the advantage and will seek to hold on to power by any means necessary.