US president Donald Trump is considering introducing the death penalty for drug dealers.
The plan, set to be rolled out on Monday in the US, was confirmed by Andrew Bremberg, director of the White House Domestic Policy Council. The policy change is part of Trump’s wider push to overcome America’s opioid epidemic, an issue he’s put at the top of his government’s agenda.
According to Bremberg, the new rules will target drug traffickers and drug dealers, and will include harsher punishments and the death penalty in extreme cases.
“The Department of Justice will seek the death penalty against drug traffickers when it’s appropriate under current law,” the New York Post reported Bremberg telling journalists. “The president will call on Congress to pass legislation that reduces the threshold amount of drugs needed to invoke mandatory minimum sentences for drug traffickers who knowingly distribute certain illicit opioids, including fentanyl that are lethal in trace amounts.”
The proposal comes after Trump said America’s opioid problem wouldn’t be as big an issue if drug dealers were put to death rather than handed minimal sentences and fines. It’s a cause close to the president’s heart, after his brother Fred died alcoholism and addiction in his 40s.
Last October, Trump gave a powerful speech at the White House where he gave rare insight into his private life.
“I learned myself, I had a brother Fred, great guy, best looking guy, best personality, much better than mine, but he had a problem,” Trump said at the time. He explained it was watching his brother’s own struggle that encouraged Trump from staying away from drugs and alcohol.
“To this day I haven’t had a drink and I have no longing for it, I have no interest in it,” he revealed. “And to this day I’ve never had a cigarette.”
Senior Administration officials have confirmed the proposed changes in drug laws would target traffickers bringing large amounts of harmful drugs into America. It’s believed Trump is not interested in targeting low-level possession crime for drugs such as marijuana.
Trump is expected to address the proposal during a speech in New Hampshire, one of America’s hotspots for opioid abuse. The plan is similar to the no-tolerance laws of many Asian and Middle Eastern countries that already execute drug dealers and traffickers.
At present, 175 Americans die each day due to drug addiction, with opioid deaths in particular quadrupling over the past two decades. In addition to the death penalty, the new plan will also include an advertising campaign to educate people about the dangers of opioids abuse, as well as a treatment plan to help addicts fight their addiction and find employment.