Global Ganja Report

Human Rights Watch (HRW) and several other human rights organizations on April 16 issued a joint statement urging the government of the Republic of Maldives to withdraw plans to end its death penalty moratorium and introduce capital punishment for drug-related crimes.

Singaporean authorities are scheduled on April 16 to execute a man convicted of importing just over a kilogram of cannabis across the country’s border, in a case that has drawn urgent condemnation from human rights organizations, the European Union, and a growing chorus of international observers.

Indonesia repatriated two Dutch nationals, one of whom had been on death row, to the Netherlands on Dec. 8, following a bilateral agreement signed between the two countries. Both were convicted of smuggling illegal substances and had been serving lengthy sentences under the Indonesian drug laws before their repatriation.

The Supreme Court announced Oct. 20 that it will consider whether a federal law prohibiting gun possession by unlawful drug users violates the Second Amendment, marking the latest firearms dispute to reach the high court following its landmark 2022 ruling that significantly expanded gun rights.

State and local law enforcement made nearly 190,000 marijuana possession-related arrests in 2024—comprising more than 22% of all drug arrests nationwide, according to data compiled by the US Federal Bureau of Investigation and posted on its Crime Data Explorer website. According to the database, police made at least 204,036 arrests for marijuana-related violations last year.

Amnesty International has urged Singaporean authorities to immediately halt the execution of Pannir Selvam Pranthaman, scheduled for Oct. 8. The Malaysian national has been on death row since 2017 for importing 51.84 grams of diamorphine (heroin) into Singapore. Condemning the practice of mandatory death penalties for drug-related offenses as well as "multiple layers of unfairness" in Pranthaman’s case, Amnesty deemed the case emblematic of the Singaporean justice system's violations of international legal standards.

The District of Columbia filed a lawsuit Aug. 15 challenging President Donald Trump's emergency order placing the city’s police department under federal control. Four days earlier, the Trump administration had declared a crime emergency in the nation's capital, and announced the federal takeover of the force. Trump invoked his emergency powers under Section 740 of the DC Home Rule Act, which grants the president authority over local police during "special conditions of an emergency nature."

US citizen and Army veteran George Retes on July 16 spoke out after being arrested during an immigration raid at his workplace on a California cannabis farm, stating that he was detained for three days without explanation.