A report released on Monday, May 17, 2010 says that the number of drug offenders that are executed each year for a drug crime tops 1,000.  The report from the International Harm Reduction Association was released in Vienna and says that the number of persons executed over a drug crime has been declining since the 1980s. The report was released on the same day that the UN Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice began in Vienna. 58 countries retain the death penalty for certain crimes and out of those 32 retain the death penalty for drug offenses. 13 of the 32 jurisdictions retain a mandatory death penalty for certain categories of drug offenses. Some of the countries that allow the death penalty for drug crimes, Bahrain, China, Cuba, Egypt, Gaza (Occupied Palestinian Territories), India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, North Korea, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Taiwan, Viet Nam and the United States of America. Although the US reports that no one has been executed or is currently on death row solely for drug offenses that were not accompanied by violence, the Federal Death Penalty Act of 1994 allows the death penalty for drug kingpin activity, which are offenses against the State and can be tried the same as treason with the highest punishment allowed.

One of the largest countries on the list, China, keeps its death penalty records secret. China’s use of capital punishment is widely thought to “dwarf” the combined total of the rest of the world, according to the report, and the country’s tough counter-narcotics efforts and policies make it likely that a “sizable portion” of those executed each year are drug offenders. Iran is the worst offender on record with 172 drug offenders executed in 2009. The report highlights Saudi Arabia having the largest proportion of foreign nationals facing execution, with 36 of Saudi Arabia’s 40 drug-related executions being from another country in 2007 and 17 of 22 drug offenders were foreigners in 2008. The report says the number of those put to death for drug offenses world wide is declining, a trend they have been seeing since the 1980′s. Malaysia and Singapore, known historically for putting many people to death for drug related crimes – have appeared to have greatly reduced the number of people they execute each year, and Viet Nam is currently looking at their policy and giving consideration to changing the penalties. The IHRA contends that the death penalty for a drug offense is a human rights violation and cites the UN High Commissioner and the UN Special Rapporteur on torture who also have found the practice to violate international human rights law. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime also explicitly states its opposition to the application of the death penalty for drug offenses. The group who released the annual report, the IHRA is an international organization that promotes a harm reduction approach to all psychoactive substances on a global basis, including the affect of alcohol and tobacco on communities around the world.

The report is fascinating and you can read it in its entirety here.