1,212+ executionsin 2025. Location Count 955+ unknown # 240 15 2 assumed assumed

Being involved in the illegal drug trade in certain countries, which may include illegally importing, exporting, selling or possession of significant amounts of drugs, constitutes a capital offence and may result in capital punishment for drug trafficking, or possession assumed to be for drug trafficking. There are also extrajudicial executions of suspected drug users and traffickers in at least two countries without drug death penalties by law: Mexico and the Philippines.

In 2025: "At least 1,212 people were executed for drug offences worldwide (excluding figures from China, Vietnam and North Korea)." This is according to Harm Reduction International. Executions were confirmed in five countries (China, Iran, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Singapore). Executions are assumed to have been carried out in North Korea and Vietnam. Over 46% of all executions confirmed globally were for drug offences. "For the first time in over a decade, two countries – Algeria and the Maldives – introduced the death penalty for drug offences." So 36 countries now have the death penalty for drugs. See full report. See page 9 for executions timeline. See page 7 for application table. See page 11 for executions by country.

As of December 2022 Harm Reduction International (HRI) reports 3700+ people are on death row for drug offences worldwide. For 2022, HRI reports at least 285 executions by law for drug offences globally in 6 countries, 252+ in Iran, 22 in Saudi Arabia, and 11 in Singapore. Exact numbers are not possible due to "extreme opacity" in some countries: China, North Korea, and Vietnam.

A Harm Reduction International global overview of 2022 reported: "HRI has identified 35 countries and territories that retain the death penalty for drug offences in law. Only a small number of these countries carry out executions for drug offences regularly. In fact, six of these states are classified by Amnesty International as abolitionist in practice. This means that they have not carried out executions for any crime in the past ten years (although in some cases death sentences are still pronounced), and 'are believed to have a policy or established practice of not carrying out executions.' Other countries have neither sentenced to death nor executed anyone for a drug offence, despite having dedicated laws in place."The Death Penalty for Drug Offences: Global Overview 2022. Harm Reduction International. See the full report. Use page numbers on PDF, not from browser or reader. Page 15 breaks down nations: High Application, Low Application, Symbolic Application, and Insufficient Data. Page 25 for Philippines extrajudicial killings. Page 56 for Yemen.

A March 2018 report by Harm Reduction International says: "Between January 2015 and December 2017, at least 1,320 people are known to have been executed for drug-related offences – 718 in 2015; 325 in 2016; and 280 in 2017. These estimates do not include China, as reliable figures continue to be unavailable for the country." 1,176 of the 1,320 total were in Iran.The Death Penalty for Drug Offences: Global Overview 2017. By Gen Sander. March 2018. Harm Reduction International. See full report.Report Reveals World's Most Prolific Executioners for Drug Offences. By Avinash Tharoor. 8 March 2018. TalkingDrugs, site sponsored by Release.

According to a 2011 article by the Lawyers Collective, an NGO in India, "32 countries impose capital punishment for offences involving narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances." A 2015 article by The Economist says that the laws of 32 countries provide for capital punishment for drug smuggling.Which countries have the death penalty for drug smuggling? April 29, 2015. The Economist.

Overview Sentences for drug-related crimes, especially for trafficking, are the strictest in Asian countries.Penalties for drug-related crime in Asia. May 5, 2009. CNN. In January 2014, then-President Thein Sein of Myanmar commuted all the country's death sentences to life imprisonment.The Death Penalty in Myanmar . Cornell Center on the Death Penalty Worldwide . In South Korea, the law continues to provide for the death penalty for drug offences, although it currently has a moratorium on capital punishment: there have been no executions since 1997, but there are still people on death row, and new death sentences continue to be handed down.The Death Penalty in South Korea . Cornell Center on the Death Penalty Worldwide .Chung Hye-min (February 6, 2015). Drug smuggling reaches a record-high in South Korea. The Korea Observer. While capital punishment has been abolished in the Philippines, the Philippine drug war led to thousands of extrajudicial executions against drug traffickers, which were endorsed by ex-president Rodrigo Duterte and his government. Killings continue. See Philippine drug war.

Use by country

Harm Reduction International breaks down nations by high application, low application, symbolic application, and insufficient data.

In 2025 HRI says 36 countries still retain the death penalty for drug offences. "Pakistan removed death as a possible sentence for drug offences in 2023. It remains included in this report because people on death row for drug offences were reported in 2025." That is why there are 37 countries listed in the above table from HRI.

Mexico and the Philippines are added to the table below since extrajudicial killings still occurred to drug suspects in 2025. See Mexican drug war and Philippine drug war. So there are 39 countries listed in the table below.

Note: Asterisk (*) after country name below indicates Crime in LOCATION links.

+ Nations that retain the death penalty for drug offenses by law or extrajudicial execution. Location Notes Archived . October 10, 2015 was 13th World Day. Ranks first in the world by number of executions related to drug trafficking. Option when a second conviction for drug trafficking in quantities specified.Bombay High Court overturns mandatory death penalty for drug offences; first in the world to do so . 17 June 2011 by Lawyers Collective. "Consequently, the sentencing Court will have the option and not obligation, to impose capital punishment on a person convicted a second time for drugs in quantities specified under Section 31A. ... Across the world, 32 countries impose capital punishment for offenses involving narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances." Death penalty for drug-related crimes depending on severity (drug trafficking, possession of large amounts of drugs, etc.), other drug-related crimes may result in life sentencing or other harsh punishments. See also: Bali Nine. Drug trafficking cases are handled under the jurisdiction of the Islamic Revolutionary Court, a special court system that tries individuals accused of smuggling, blaspheming, or committing acts of treason. In 1988, the country's Guardian Council passed a law allowing courts to impose mandatory death sentences on drug-traffickers found in possession of specified amounts of proscribed narcotics.The Justice System of the Islamic Republic of Iran | Lawyers Committee for Human Rights Published: May 1993 Iran ranks second in the world for most executions. In 2023, the country executed 853 individuals, with 481 of them convicted of drug-related offenses. A Moroccan man was sentenced to death by the High Court on May 30, 2013, for trafficking in more than six kilograms of methamphetamine.Moroccan man gets death for drug trafficking . 31 May 2013. New Straits Times. A man was sentenced to death by hanging on September 3, 2021, for 299 grams of cannabis presumed to be for trafficking.Delivery man gets death for trafficking 299.09gm of cannabis. September 3, 2021 in The Star (Malaysia). Archived here. Extrajudicial executions. See Mexican drug war. According to the cartography available on the French version of the website of the International Federation of Human Rights, drugs crimes can still be punished by the death penalty in Myanmar in theory."La peine de mort pour les crimes liés à la drogue en Asie". By law the Philippines has no death penalty for anything.FAST FACTS: Death penalty in the world and in the Philippines. October 10, 2022. Rappler. But the Philippine drug war that was enacted under president Rodrigo Duterte has led to thousands of extrajudicial executions against suspected drug users and traffickers. Saudi Arabia ranks third in the world for the most executions. 43 percent of those executed in 2015 had been convicted of smuggling drugs, ranging from heroin to marijuana. "Since May , Saudi Arabia has executed 28 people on drug-related charges, according to an AFP tally based on official statements, up from just two in all of 2023." See Misuse of Drugs Act (Singapore). Drug trafficking can result in a death penalty; however, South Korea has not had an execution for such offenses since 1997. The Death Penalty in South Sudan . Cornell Center on the Death Penalty Worldwide . Legal penalty under Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act, though rarely enforced in recent years. Last execution for drug trafficking offense is on October 7, 2002, although there exist those on death row. Very large quantities or mixtures (e.g. on an industrial scale) of heroin, cocaine, ecgonine, phencyclidine (PCP), lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), marijuana, or methamphetamine may result in the death penalty in the United States. So far, no prisoner has been put on death row for this reason.The Federal Death Penalty Act of 1994. Criminal Resource Manual 69. United States Department of Justice - United States Attorneys' Office. "In passing this legislation, Congress established constitutional procedures for imposition of the death penalty for 60 offenses under 13 existing and 28 newly-created Federal capital statutes, which fall into three broad categories: (1) homicide offenses; (2) espionage and treason; and (3) non-homicidal narcotics offenses."The death penalty for drug kingpins: Constitutional and international implications. By Eric Pinkard. Fall, 1999. Vermont Law Review. "In 1994 Congress enacted the Federal Death Penalty Act (FDPA) with provisions permitting the imposition of the death penalty on Drug Kingpins. The FDPA is unprecedented in American legal history in that the death penalty can be imposed in cases where the Drug Kingpin does not take a human life." See also: Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act, and the section on the Federal Death Penalty Act.18 USC § 3591 - Sentence of death | Title 18 - Crimes and Criminal Procedure | U.S. Code. Title 18 of the United States Code. Legal Information Institute. While the United States Supreme Court in Kennedy v. Louisiana (2008) struck down capital punishment for crimes that do not result in the death of a victim, it has left open the possibility for "offenses against the State" – including crimes such as "drug kingpin activity" (also, treason and espionage).Syllabus. Kennedy v. Louisiana. Syllabus posted on SCOTUS blog. SCOTUS is Supreme Court of the United States.Chapter 4: The Death Penalty for Non-Homicide Drug Trafficking? Kennedy v. Louisiana and the Federal Death Penalty Act . By Seth Gurgel. From the book The Contemporary American Struggle with Death Penalty Law: Selected Topics and Cases. U.S.-China Death Penalty Reform Project of the U.S.-Asia Law Institute of NYU School of Law. A paragraph from it that summarizes things (emphasis added): {| class=wikitable