A recent report from Harm Reduction International (HRI) sheds light on how richer countries like the United States and Europe continue to provide substantial foreign aid for the global War on Drugs. However, rather than addressing issues like poverty, hunger, healthcare, and education, this money is primarily allocated to law enforcement and military efforts. As anyone familiar with the War on Drugs knows, the police and feds rarely make things better, especially when given firearms. 

As a result, the HRI is calling upon governments, including the U.S., to “stop using money from their limited aid budgets” to endorse policies that adversely affect individuals who use drugs. Doing so is inflicting more harm than good; the money could go towards other things, and it’s just plain expensive. 

The “Aid for the War on Drugs” report reveals that between 2012 and 2021, 30 donor countries allocated $974 million in international aid for “narcotics control.” 

Shockingly, some of this aid, totaling at least $70 million, was directed to countries with the death penalty for drug-related charges. The funding allocated to 16 governments that carry out executions for drug-related convictions is especially troubling. 

As detailed in the report, in 2021, U.S. aid funds went to Indonesia to back a “counter narcotics training program.” This occurred in the same year when Indonesia imposed a record-breaking 89 death sentences for drug-related offenses. Japan gave millions to Iran to help pay for their drug-detection dog units, while Iran executed at least 131 people over drugs in 2021.

In the span of a decade, the United States emerged as the most significant contributor, accounting for more than half of the global funding for the drug war, clocking in at $550 million. Following the U.S. were the European Union ($282 million), Japan ($78 million), the United Kingdom ($22 million), Germany ($12 million), Finland ($9 million), and South Korea ($8 million), Marijuana Moment reports. 

The War on Drugs receives more foreign aid than school food, early childhood education, labor rights, and mental health care. In the period described by the report, 92 countries received assistance for “narcotics control.” The top recipients were Colombia ($109 million), Afghanistan ($37 million), Peru ($27 million), Mexico ($21 million), Guatemala, and Panama ($10 million each). 

“There is a long history of drug policy being used by world powers to strengthen and enforce their control over other populations, and target specific communities,” the report reads. “Racist and colonial dynamics continue to this day, with wealthier governments, led by the U.S., spending billions of taxpayer dollars around the world to bolster or expand punitive drug control regimes and related law enforcement.”

“These funding flows are out of pace with existing evidence, as well as international development, health, and human rights commitments, including the goal to end AIDS by 2030,” the report calls out. “They rely on and reinforce systems that disproportionately harm Black, Brown and Indigenous people worldwide.”

While certain countries, like the U.K., have reduced their expenditure on foreign War on Drugs initiatives, others have chosen to increase their funding. For instance, the U.S. significantly escalated its support for drug war aid at the start of President Joe Biden‘s term. 

The news of the report comes at a time when Biden, never an A+ cannabis advocate, is president as the federal government is finally seriously considering rescheduling cannabis. 

However, to meet the public where they’re at in a classic political play amid the ongoing federal cannabis scheduling review, the White House has reiterated that President Joe Biden has been unequivocal in his support for legalizing cannabis for medical use. They emphasized, “President Joe Biden has been ‘very clear’ that he’s ‘always supported the legalization of marijuana for medical purposes.’”

In August, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was asked about the potential implications of reclassifying cannabis from Schedule I to Schedule III of the Controlled Substances Act (CSA). She responded, “I don’t want to get ahead of the process. I was asked this question before. So just so that everybody is clear: The president asked the secretary of HHS and also the attorney general to initiate the administrative process to review how marijuana is scheduled, as you just kind of laid out.”

While the United States is the world’s primary contributor to the drug war, HRI’s report highlights how these figures fluctuate, which is vital to remember. For instance, in 2021, the U.S. allocated $301 million in aid for “narcotics control,” a significant increase from the prior year’s $31 million. (However, this figure represents a fraction of what the U.S. invests in the global drug war through other initiatives). 

According to the report, Colombia emerged as the largest recipient of this aid. 

The one thing the report does not reveal is the specifics, apparently to safeguard the “health and security of implementing partners, and the national interest of the United States.”

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For the second time in three weeks, Singapore officials executed a man by hanging for a nonviolent cannabis-related charge in what critics are calling a “killing spree.”

A Malay man in Singapore, 37, whose family asked for him not to be named, was executed at Changi Prison Complex in the eastern part of the city for allegedly trafficking 1.5 kilograms (3.3 pounds) of cannabis. That would be considered a commercial delivery in one of the U.S. legal markets.

He was executed despite a last-minute attempt to appeal his case, which was rejected by the court without a hearing. Al Jazeera reports that ​​Singapore officials hanged 11 people last year—all for drug-related charges—after a brief pause of killing during the COVID pandemic.

Just over one pound of pot warrants a death sentence: Under Singapore’s abnormally strict drug laws, trafficking more than 500 grams (1.1 pounds) of cannabis can result in the death penalty. “Drug traffickers are less likely to traffic drugs and reduce the amount of drugs trafficked if they are aware of the penalties involved,” the Singapore Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) claims, referring to its use of capital punishment by hanging. 

Kokila Annamalai of the Transformative Justice Collective said was convicted in 2019 of trafficking about 1.5 kilograms of cannabis.

“If we don’t come together to stop it, we fear that this killing spree will continue in the weeks and months to come,” Annamalai told The Associated Press.

According to the man, authorities lied about the amount of cannabis involved, and that it was actually a smaller amount than they claimed. The man appealed to reopen the case, based on DNA evidence and fingerprints that linked him to a much smaller amount of pot—which he admitted to possessing—but the court rejected it.

Tangaraju Suppiah, 46, was executed at dawn on April 26, rejecting a growing number of anti-death penalty campaigners to end the country’s cruel use of capital punishment.

Tangaraju was originally sentenced to death on October 9, 2018 for attempting to traffic more than 1 kilogram of cannabis to Singapore. He was originally detained in 2014 for drug consumption and failure to report for a drug test. 

Tangaraju was also held at Singapore’s Changi Prison Complex.

British billionaire Sir Richard Branson, a long opponent of the death penalty, and a group of world leaders called for action for what they describe as a disturbing case of what may be an innocent man.

The hanging took place in a country that canes people for tagging walls with punishments much harsher than you’d see in the U.S.

Nagaenthran Dharmalingam, a Malaysian with learning disabilities, was executed on a drug charge last year, but his case prompted protests, which is a rarity in Singapore. Through the years, Singapore has dealt with “Malayophobia,” another factor that complicates cases such as this.

In a report in March, Harm Reduction International (HRI) found that despite a worldwide shift towards abolishing capital punishment, there were at least 285 executions for drug-related charges last year, more than double the number the year prior.

Singapore isn’t the only country employing medieval punishments for drugs. HRI reminds readers that China, Vietnam, and North Korea also execute people for nonviolent drug charges.

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Singapore officials executed a man today—by hanging—who was found guilty of drug trafficking a kilogram of cannabis into the country.

NDTV in India reports that Tangaraju Suppiah, 46, was executed at dawn on Wednesday, rejecting a growing chorus of anti-death penalty campaigners to end the country’s cruel use of capital punishment.

British billionaire Sir Richard Branson, a long opponent of the death penalty, and a group of world leaders called for action for what they describe as a disturbing case of what may be an innocent man.

Branson wrote a detailed blog post pleading for mercy, while The European Union (EU) and Australian MP Graham Perrett issued statements in defense of the man. The EU statement, jointly issued on April 24 with the diplomatic missions of EU member states Norway and Switzerland, called on authorities to halt Tangaraju’s execution and commute his sentence to a non-capital sentence.

Parrett was noticeably disgusted by the choice of punishment.

“Imagine being hanged by the neck until you are dead because of a bit of dope,” Parrett tweeted in a series of posts. “This is the fate that awaits Tangaraju Suppiah of Singapore. Yesterday Tangaraju’s family were delivered his execution notice that announced he would be hanged the day after ANZAC Day.” (Anzac Day is Australia’s Memorial Day.)

Tangaraju was sentenced to death on October 9, 2018, for attempting to traffic more than 1 kilogram of cannabis to Singapore. He was originally detained in 2014 for drug consumption and failure to report for a drug test. 

Tangaraju was held at Singapore’s Changi Prison Complex in the eastern part of the city.

Branson argued that “the system is broken beyond repair.” He contends that in the U.S. alone, nearly 190 people have been exonerated and freed from death row since 1976. Branson also tried to free “drug trafficker” Nagaenthran Dharmalingam, who was executed by hanging in 2022. Branson was invited to take part in a live televised debate with the city state’s home affairs minister K. Shanmugam, but declined to do so.

In 1994, an American 19-year-old was caned in Singapore for graffiti, left in a bloody mess. Drug laws are similar. “Drug traffickers are less likely to traffic drugs and reduce the amount of drugs trafficked if they are aware of the penalties involved,” the Singapore MHA claims, referring to its use of capital punishment by hanging. 

Branson wrote a blog post entitled “Why Tangaraju Suppiah doesn’t deserve to die,” and posted it on his website, a powerful plea supported by photos of the man with his family. “Singapore may be about to kill an innocent man,” he pleads.

“Tangaraju’s case is shocking on multiple levels,” Branson wrote. “Singapore has a long and troubled history of executing drug offenders, following mandatory sentencing laws that proscribe the death penalty for certain threshold amounts of drugs.”

He continued, “The country’s government has repeatedly claimed that its draconian laws serve as an effective deterrent of drug-related crime. However, Singaporean authorities have repeatedly failed to provide any tangible evidence for that assertion. Killing those at the lowest rungs of the illicit drug supply chain, often minorities living in poverty, is hardly effective in curbing an international trade worth hundreds of billions every year.”

Branson claims that Tangaraju was nowhere near the pot at the time, and several more details about his arrest are sketchy, to say the least.

Singapore’s Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on April 25 fired back and said that Branson’s remarks are “disrespectful.”

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Former President Donald Trump on Tuesday gave a clue to his vision for a potential return to the Oval Office, saying in a Washington, D.C. speech that the nation needs to get tough on crime and sentence drug dealers to the death penalty. Speaking before the conservative nonprofit the America First Policy Institute, Trump said that drug traffickers should face execution after a “very quick trial.”

“The penalties should be very, very severe,” Trump said during his speech on Tuesday, as quoted by The Hill. “If you look at countries throughout the world, the ones that don’t have a drug problem are ones that institute a very quick trial death penalty sentence for drug dealers.”

Trump added that the United States would not face the problems associated with illicit drugs if authorities were tougher on crime. He praised other countries that have quick trials for suspected drug dealers.

“It’s terrible to say, but you take a look at every country in this world that doesn’t have a problem with drugs, they have a very strong death penalty for people that sell drugs,” he said.

“It sounds horrible, doesn’t it? But you know what? That’s the ones that don’t have any problem. It doesn’t take 15 years in court. It goes quickly, and you absolutely — you execute a drug dealer, and you’ll save 500 lives,” the former president continued.

At one point in his address, Trump applauded the way Chinese President Xi Jinping handled drug traffickers, recalling a time when Xi told him about “quick trials” for drug criminals in China that he estimated sentenced people in “two hours.”

Trump’s appearance at the America First Policy Institute’s two-day summit marked the first time the former president has spoken publicly in Washington, D.C. since he left office in January 2021. His remarks on harsh punishment for drug dealers came in a speech calling for the nation to get tough on crime and support law enforcement agencies and their officers.

Former President Calls for American Police State

Trump said that the country is becoming unsafe for its citizens, highlighting instances of attacks on everyday Americans in cities including Washington, D.C. and Philadelphia that have been extensively reported by conservative media.

“The dangerously deranged roam our streets with impunity. We are living in such a different country for one primary reason: There is no longer respect for the law and there certainly is no order. Our country is now a cesspool of crime,” said Trump, only 18 months after leaving office at the end of his first term.

Trump advocated for what would be a huge increase in police officers across the country, saying that there should be a police car on every corner. He called for a “no-holds-barred national campaign to dismantle gangs and organized street crime in America.” The former president also called for efforts to defeat violence “and be tough and be nasty and be mean if we have to.”

“We’re living in such a different country for one primary reason: There is no longer respect for the law, and there certainly is no order. Our country is now a cesspool of crime,” Trump said.

“We are a failing nation,” he added, only 18 months after leaving office.

Trump also said that encampments of unsheltered people in cities should be relocated to “large parcels of inexpensive land at the outer reaches of the city.” The former president added that such camps should also have tents staffed with healthcare professionals including medical doctors and psychologists.

To fight back against crime, Trump argued that the president should ignore state authority by deploying the National Guard and “go beyond the governor,” completely ignoring the Republican Party’s often repeated support for states’ rights.

“When governors refuse to protect their people, we need to bring in what is necessary anyway,” Trump said, adding that “the next president needs to send the National Guard to the most dangerous neighborhoods in Chicago until safety can be restored.”

Trump has a history of supporting draconian tactics to deal with drug traffickers and other criminals. In 2017, he called then-President Rodrigo Duterte of the Phillipines to praise him for his crackdown on drug dealers that led to the killing of an estimated 12,000 people at the hands of police and vigilantes.

“I just wanted to congratulate you because I am hearing of the unbelievable job on the drug problem,” Trump reportedly said, referring to the country’s rash of extrajudicial deaths. “Many countries have the problem, we have a problem, but what a great job you are doing and I just wanted to call and tell you that.”

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Malaysia’s cabinet agreed on Friday to end mandatory death penalty sentences for 12 different kind of “crimes” including those involving non-violent drug offenses. The move comes four years after the government imposed a stay on executions. The reason this is so significant is that most people on death row in Malaysia have been convicted on narcotics charges.

According to information provided by the government as of February of this year, 1,341 people were on the Malaysian death row—and 905 of those people were convicted of “drug trafficking.”

Human Rights advocates in the region are cautiously optimistic. However according to Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director for Human Rights Watch, there should be no celebrating until this is codified in legislation. “The Malaysian government loves to float trial balloons about human rights initiatives because it knows the international community has a short attention span.”

Amnesty International called the government’s decision a “welcome step in the right direction.”

According to the most recent reports, the government expects to introduce the bill in Parliament in October and have it go into effect no later than January 2023.

The move is even more significant given the trends on capital punishment in the region. Singapore, Myanmar, and Vietnam are, in stark contrast, increasing the use of the death penalty.

Cannabis Appears to be the Driving Force of Reform

What makes this sudden prioritization of changing a major piece of policy even more interesting is that the Malaysian government may have decided to change its stance on mandatory sentencing, beyond legal cases, because of its recent and growing interest in medical cannabis.

Medical cannabis reform was discussed by the Malaysian cabinet in April this year during a meeting which the country’s Prime Minister, Ismail Sabri Yaakob also attended. Subsequently the government issued a written statement that said “More than 40 countries have legalised consumption of cannabis for medicinal purposes. The caucus believes that Malaysia has the space and a huge opportunity in this industry for medicinal and research purposes which could deliver a lot of benefits for the country.”

As of now, a mandatory capital punishment sentence is imposed on those caught with more than 200 grams of cannabis. Lesser offenses are punished by up to a life sentence in prison.

The most recent discussion at a cabinet level about legalization of at least medical use also came on the heels of charges of drug cultivation and trafficking being made against a popular local singer named Yasin Sulaiman who performs Islamic devotional songs.

Currently no legal cannabis is grown in the country. As of last November, the government began allowing the import of medical cannabis of pharmaceutical quality specifically for medical purposes.

It is also highly likely that the change in policy has been prompted by an enthusiastic embrace of the plant in next door Thailand which has recently moved forward not only with cannabis reform but just announced a giveaway of a million cannabis plants.

History of Cannabis in Malaysia

Cannabis has been cultivated in the country for centuries. There is scant evidence that it was used as medicine; archaeological evidence has revealed that hemp has long been used for fabric production and for food. Arab traders were selling it in the country as early as the 8^th century B.C.

The local cannabis trade entered its last golden age in the late 19^th century when the British East India Company began trading it across the region. During the last century, the Vietnam War and Western backpackers also fuelled the nascent market.

The War on Drugs is indeed coming to an end, globally. What makes this development even more exciting is that cannabis reform is now driving a much larger revision of government policy in every part of the world.

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