In the first of a short series of articles on the drugs crisis and strategies to tackle it, An Phoblacht's MICHAEL PIERSE interviews Dublin Sinn Féin representatives Daithí Doolan and Christy Burke, who argue for new treatment strategies for addicts and greater emphasois on education to prevent addiction. Free article

Moderate Basque nationalists won key elections in the Basque Country on Sunday 13 May, indicating voters want to move toward independence from Spain, but the election was a setback for left-wing pro-independence movement Euskal Herritarrok. Turnout was a record 78 percent. Free article

THE HARASSMENT of Francis Hughes in life, which was one of the reasons he joined the IRA, continued even with his death and the hijacking of his body by the RUC last Wednesday in contravention of the wishes of his family that it be taken through West Belfast where several thousand people had gathered to pay homage. The British, who feared him in life, considered him, and the emotions he aroused, a force to be reckoned with even in death. Free article