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An interesting study was released in April this year about the legitimacy of the death penalty being pronounced for drug offenders:

From Amicus Journal (2010) Issue 21, p 21-28.

This article provides an in-depth analysis of the international law ramifications of applying the death penalty for drug offences.  It reviews the the ‘most serious crimes’ threshold for the lawful application of capital punishment as established in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.  It then explores the question of whether drug offences meet this threshold by examining the issue through the lenses of international human rights law, the domestic legislation in retentionist states, international narcotics control law, international refugee law and international criminal law.  The article  concludes that drug offences do not constitute ‘most serious crimes’, and that executions of people for drug offences violates international human rights law.