The data source used is the Fifth United Nations Survey of Crime Trends and Criminal Justice Systems. Across the 5 years of this study, there was a strong international trend that shows relatively small but widespread increases in drug offenders for each stage of criminal justice processing. The international mean for all drug offenses as a percentage of all offenses was 7 percent of suspects, 7 percent of prosecutions, 6 percent of convictions, and 11 percent of prison admissions in the most recent year for which data were available. Generally, criminal justice systems around the world are characterized more by the similarities than differences in the proportions of drug offenders at various stages; however, several statistically deviant countries are identifiable at various criminal justice stages and at different times. Some issues are worthy of further examination. In particular, there is the possibility that the United States is not more punitive at sentencing or imprisonment than other countries when it comes to drug offenders; rather, it has a relatively greater tendency to prosecute drug cases. Variations in sentence lengths for drug offenses are also examined, although the data are more fragmented. For those countries that responded, the international median sentence length for possession offenses is approximately 1 year, compared to between 3 and 5 years for trafficking. The findings and their interpretation should be viewed with caution due to data limitations. 17 tables and 24 references