Trump calls for death penalties for drug dealers as focus of opioids plan
Trump’s policy rollout focuses on punishment for dealers and traffickers but doesn’t propose new legislation to combat the crisis
The Guardian (UK)
Monday, March 19, 2018
Monday, March 19, 2018
Donald Trump called for some drug dealers to receive the death penalty in a new opioids policy rollout. “We’re wasting our time if we don’t get tough with drug dealers, and that toughness includes the death penalty,” he said. Some states already charge drug dealers with murder if customers overdose. Drug-induced homicide laws, which emerged in the 1980s, are being used more frequently because of the opioids crisis, according to a November 2017 report by the Drug Policy Alliance. However, there is no evidence that such laws reduce drug use. (See also: Trump’s proposal to execute drug dealers has some fearing people of color will be harmed most | Jeff Sessions’s memo asking federal prosecutors to seek the death penalty for drug traffickers)
