Death penalty for drug-related offences: Too harsh or fair punishment?

According to www.deathpenaltyworldwide.org, some of the most common methods of execution include:

• hanging,
• shooting by firing squad,
• beheading,
• lethal injection, and
• electrocution.

The 2015 global overview for the death penalty for drug-related offences states that Iran has had the most executions for drug-related offences from 2012 to 2014.

• The total executions in 2012 in Iran numbered 580 of which 439 were drug related.
• In 2013, 331 of 687 executions were drug-related.
• 2014 saw 753 executions of which 367 were drug-related.

Many feel that transporting drugs from one country to another is a victimless crime.

This is what the community of Springs had to say:

• Clinton Merber: “Love it… victimless crime… I think not. They may only supply a drug but the person taking it commits abuse against family, their children and probably also commit bigger crimes. You, as a drug dealer or mule, carry responsibility for that as well.”

• Dean Thomas: “The death penalty solves nothing, even before the morality of it is even debated.”

• Sonja du Plooy: “They deserve it really, because they destroy millions of lives.”

• Meredith Pollock: “They get what they deserve, those drugs they take in, take lives so why should they live if they directly or even indirectly are part of other loss of life.”

• Lenie Stoop (translated from Afrikaans): “If our country had the death penalty, there would have been a lot less crime.”

• Rudie Botha (translated from Afrikaans): “At least those countries are doing something about their crime.”
• Pieter Koekemoer: “Anyone who think drug peddling is a faceless crime has never been addicted to drugs or had a loved one addicted to drugs. Personally they can hang every one of them.”

• Brett Hunter: “This is a tough one. Many of these people who face this penalty are there due to being forced to be mules and get caught with small amounts of drugs compared to the bigger haul that slips through. Others do it purely for greed and do not care for their fellow humans. Certainly not a victimless crime.”

Read the full report on The Death Penalty for Drug Offences: Global Overview 2015.