Drug laws kill

This video is part of the Release campaign “Nice People Take Drugs.” The film is intended to reflect the silence and hypocrisy of politicians regarding drug use as many of them have admitted to trying them at least once. But most importantly, every year thousands of people are executed in Asia for trafficking and/or use of drugs.

Six people have been executed in China as the country is preparing to mark a global anti-drug day for June 26th, the same day that the United Nations commemorates the International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking. China has traditionally executed and sentenced convicted drug traffickers to illustrate its resolve in fighting drug crimes.

The executions correspond to four separate cases of manufacturing, smuggling and selling ketamine, methamphetamine, heroin and marijuana, reaching 14 executions just during this week.

Xinhua news agency reported that Xia Zhijun and He Pingquan manufactured more than 320 kilograms of ketamine in the southwestern province of Sichuan in 2007. The second case took place in southern China where ZhuYufeng and Wang Zhengyuan were executed for carrying out smuggling of 35 kilograms of methamphetamine and 38 kilograms from Myanmar in 2008. In a third case, Liu Wei was convicted of manufacturing and sale of 160 kilograms of liquid heroin in 2005 and 2006; in the fourth case, Li Dezhong was convicted for selling 32 kilograms of ketamine along with 197 grams of methamphetamine and 450 grams of marijuana.

Another eight drug dealers were executed in southern China on Tuesday 22nd June and Wednesday 23rd. The number of criminal drug offences rose to 77,000 last year, up 26 percent from 2008, according to official figures reported by Xinhua news.

Along with China, another 20 countries apply the death penalty for drug offences, 17 in Asia. But despite the death penalty, there is no evidence to conclude that capital punishment has been successful in deterring drug trafficking. There is no clear evidence that the death penalty stops serious crime in general more effectively than other punishments. In some Asian countries such as Brunei, India, Laos, Singapore and Malaysia death penalty is mandatory for drug offences, leaving a judge with no discretion over the sentence for defendants found guilty.