Death Sentence Has Little Effect on Asian Drug Trade
A United Nations report says Asia is becoming a major center for the cocaine trade.
The UN report says Colombia is still the world’s top producer of cocaine. Yet the amount of the drug seized in Asia in 2016 was three times greater than the amount seized one year earlier.
Police found 86 drug laboratories in Asia in 2006. Ten years later, the number is above 500, according to the UN.
The popularity of some drugs in Asia stands in contrast to the "hard on crime" position of many governments in the region.
In the Philippines, President Rodrigo Duterte's "drug war" has seen over 12,000 drug suspects killed. Vietnam has also been sentencing drug traffickers to death at a rapid rate - 63 in 2016 alone according to Amnesty International. The group also said Malaysia is one of the strongest supporters of the death penalty for drug crimes.
Many people assume that strict laws reduce the use and sale of illegal drugs, but this isn't always the case. In fact, strict laws often help the drug trade, says writer Johann Hari. He notes that when the police take action against illegal drugs, drug prices go up as buyers pay sellers for taking greater risks.
According to Hari, strict drug laws reduce competition and allow big drug dealers to control the market and hold onto power.
