Harm Reduction International (2021) classi es Vietnam as a ‘high application state’, meaning that the executions of individuals convicted of drug offences were carried out, and/or at least ten drug-related death sentences per year were imposed in the past ve years. Known death sentences for drugoffences were estimated to be their highest in 2021 for at least a decade, with the % of death sentences implemented for drugrelated offences consistently being greater than 75%. What is more, the 93 drug-related death sentences reported by media and courts in 2021 in Vietnam are thought to be only a fraction of those actually imposed. Case Study 2023 - Yer Vang In February 2023, a Vietnamese court in the central Ha Tinh Province sentenced a Laotian man, Yer Vang, to death for transporting 1kg of ketamine and 7000 amphetamine pills into Vietnam. Yer was hired in Laos to carry and deliver the drugs to someone in Nghe An Province in Vietnam. Whilst the drugs would have been worth around VND1 billion (US$41,740), the man sentenced to death was paid only VND1 million (US$42). The ‘Golden Triangle’ places Vietnam as a hub for drug traf cking, despite its extremely harsh drug laws. It is frequently foreign nationals from neighbouring states, such as Thailand and Laos, who get caught up in this drug trade, often fatally. Acknowledgements With special thanks to the following organisations and individuals who lent their considerable assistance and expertise towards this research in Vietnam: Harm Reduction International, University of Melbourne, Francesca Rigg, among others. Death Penalty Research Unit, University of Oxford For more research see: fi foreign-nationals.uwazi.io or tinyurl.com/mappingdeathrow fi fi on how Vietnam has some of the harshest drug laws in the world; those caught in possession or smuggling 100g or more of heroin or cocaine, or 5kg or more of cannabis and other opiates, can be sentenced to death. Capital punishment is most often used in relation to drug offences, followed by corruption, black-market and violent crimes.