President Trump on drug traffickers: Will be given the death penalty

On Monday US President Donald Trump’s planned to combat opioid drug addiction nationwide calls for stiffer penalties for drug traffickers, including the death penalty where appropriate under the current law. Trump also wants Congress to pass legislation reducing the number of drugs needed to trigger mandatory minimum sentences for traffickers who knowingly distribute certain illicit opioids.

Trump’s domestic policy director, Andrew Bremberg, briefed reporters Sunday on the plan Trump is scheduled to unveil Monday in New Hampshire, a state hard-hit by the crisis.

“Toughness is the thing that they most fear. This isn’t about nice anymore. This is about winning a very, very tough problem and if we don’t get very tough on these dealers it’s not going to happen, folks. … I want to win this battle.”

“Drug traffickers kill so many thousands of our citizens every year. That’s why my Department of Justice will be seeking so many tougher penalties than we’ve ever had and we’ll be focusing on the penalties that I talked about previously for big pushers, the ones that are killing so many people, and that penalty is going to be the death penalty.”