Cannabis Freedom Index

Context not part of the score

Death penalty

Whether the law allows execution for cannabis offences, and whether it is carried out.

A few countries still allow execution for cannabis, almost always for trafficking rather than use. Harm Reduction International counts 36 countries that keep the death penalty for drug offences and more than 1,200 people executed for them in 2025.[1] The international drug treaties do not require it: the Single Convention asks for penal provisions but leaves the punishment to each state.[2] For the background see capital punishment for drug trafficking.

The law and the practice differ. Singapore made trafficking more than 500 g of cannabis a capital offence in 1990 and hanged a man for it in 2023; Iran raised its thresholds in 2017 so that cannabis now needs 50 kg. The map marks every country whose law provides for death, and each profile says whether it is used.

profiles with this section
34
explained as not applicable
20
not researched yet
166
of 220 places covered
25%

Where the law provides for it, on the map

Select a country for its section.

Provided for by lawExplained as not applicableNot researched yet

Country by country

The opening of each profile's section; the country's page has it in full, with sources.

CountryWhat the profile says
AbkhaziaAsiaThe highest supply/import tiers allow life or death where mitigating circumstances are absent; the Supreme Court expressly bars those penalties where mitigation exists.
AlgeriaAfricaLaw 25-03 allows death for aggravated supply, production or import where the offence causes death or is likely to cause serious harm to public health, involves a transnational organised group, harms national security, is incited…
BahrainAsiaArticle 30(a) applies to trafficking in any quantity of cannabis — the plant, any part or its seeds — with death or life imprisonment and a BHD5,000–50,000 fine, and no quantity threshold.
BangladeshAsiaThe 2018 act provides for death or life imprisonment for the largest quantities of Class A drugs: 25 g or more of heroin or cocaine, and 200 g or more of yaba when produced or transported.
BruneiAsiaTrafficking more than 500 g of cannabis or 200 g of resin carries a mandatory death sentence, as does possession for trafficking above 600 g or 300 g of resin.
Burkina FasoAfricaThe Penal Code adopted on 20 October 2026 restores the death penalty and its execution procedure for certain offences. The cannabis offences in the retained 2018 texts carry imprisonment and fines, not death;
ChinaAsiaTrafficking in a "large amount" falls in the tier of the Criminal Law that carries fifteen years, life imprisonment or death.
CubaNorth AmericaLaw 87 of 1999 provided fifteen to thirty years or death for specified aggravated drug offences. The replacement 2022 Code's article 235(2) provides ten to thirty years, life imprisonment or death and lists broader aggravating…
EgyptAfricaCultivation is punished with life imprisonment, or death where an intent to traffic is established. Importing for supply carries life imprisonment or the death penalty.
IndiaAsiaSection 31A of the NDPS Act makes death a discretionary sentence for certain repeat offences. The cannabis thresholds in its table are 20 kg of hashish or 500 g of THC. The death-penalty status reflects this maximum punishment;
IndonesiaAsiaSince 2 January 2026, aggravated sale or delivery under Article 114 can bring death, life imprisonment or up to twenty years and/or a higher fine.
IranAsiaThe Anti-Narcotics Law makes death the punishment for more than 5 kg of cannabis, and for a third conviction at 5 kg or more.
IraqAsiaThe 2017 law makes death or life the penalty for importing, exporting, producing or cultivating with intent to traffic, and for aggravated trafficking. In 2024 courts passed 144 death sentences for drug trafficking;
JordanAsiaArticle 20 requires death for specified aggravated trafficking offences involving international drug gangs or links to other international crimes. Ordinary personal use is dealt with separately under article 9.
KuwaitAsiaThe enacted 2025 law provides death or life imprisonment for specified importing, smuggling, production and cultivation for trafficking, and for specified possession for trade, sale, promotion and exchange.
LibyaAfricaDeath is prescribed by Article 34 for importing, exporting, producing, manufacturing or promoting drugs, or planting or trading Table 5 plants or seeds, with intent to traffic; the court may choose life instead.
MalaysiaAsiaThe death penalty remains available for trafficking, which is presumed from 200 g of cannabis. Since July 2023 it is discretionary, not mandatory, and the reform let over a thousand death- row prisoners apply for resentencing.
MaldivesAsiaThe Third Amendment, ratified on 6 December 2025, provides the death penalty where more than 350 g of cannabis is brought into the country on entry, and only if the full Supreme Court agrees unanimously.
MauritaniaAfricaDeath is prescribed for a repeat conviction under Articles 3–5, and Article 13 allows it on a first conviction for organised crime, violence or weapons, or drugs that caused a death.
MyanmarAsiaProduction, sale, import or export carries fifteen years to life imprisonment, or death. The 2025 amendment defines life imprisonment as incarceration until death.
NigeriaAfricaThe Indian Hemp Act’s death penalty for cultivation was removed on 24 October 1975. The 1984 amendment replaced the prison term with at least 21 years.
North KoreaAsiaDrug offences can bring labour-camp sentences, and executions for drug trafficking have been reported.
OmanAsiaArticle 37 sets death or life imprisonment and a fine of 35,000–60,000 rials for specified unauthorised import, export, production, manufacture and growing offences for trade.
PalestineAsiaThe West Bank's 2015 law has no death penalty for any drug offence; its maximum is fifteen to twenty-five years.
QatarAsiaArticle 34 provides death or life imprisonment, and a fine of QR300,000 to QR500,000, for importing, producing or growing for trade. A repeat of that offence within five years is punished by death.
Saudi ArabiaAsiaArticle 37 permits death sentences for importing, exporting, manufacturing or receiving drugs for distribution, although a court may reduce the sentence to at least 15 years in prison.
SingaporeAsiaTrafficking, importing or exporting more than 500 g of cannabis, more than 200 g of cannabis resin, or more than 1,000 g of cannabis mixture is a capital offence, with narrow exceptions for qualifying couriers.
South KoreaAsiaDeath is available only for profit-making or habitual import or export of cannabis under Article 58(2); ordinary possession, use, cultivation and sale are not capital.
SudanAfricaThe published 1994 Act text distinguishes ordinary and aggravated offences. Article 15 starts trafficking at life imprisonment plus a fine, with death in specified aggravated cases.
SyriaAsiaArticle 39 imposes death for any smuggling, unlicensed manufacture or unlicensed cultivation of a listed plant, with no quantity threshold;
TaiwanAsiaOrdinary cannabis possession, use, cultivation, transfer and sale are not capital; the maximum for sale or transport is life imprisonment.
United Arab EmiratesAsiaFederal Decree-Law 30 of 2021 provides the death penalty for trafficking or promotion involving prohibited narcotic substances or drug-producing plants, which include cannabis.
VietnamAsiaFrom 1 July 2025, illegal sale of 5 kg to under 30 kg of cannabis resin, or 75 kg to under 150 kg of the listed plant parts, is twenty years or life. Life or death applies from 30 kg of resin or 150 kg of those plant parts.
YemenAsiaArticle 33 prescribes death for importing or manufacturing narcotics for trade. Articles 34–35 prescribe death or twenty-five years for trading, growing for trade, unpaid supply and preparing premises for drug use.

References

  1. Harm Reduction International — The death penalty for drug offences (special focus page, citing The Death Penalty for Drug Offences: Global Overview 2025)
  2. United Nations — Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, 1961, as amended by the 1972 Protocolarchived
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