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US PRESIDENT DONALD Trump has advocated the death penalty for drug dealers, escalating his tough-on-crime rhetoric amid an opioid crisis that kills an estimated 200 Americans a day.
“The drug dealers, the drug pushers, they are really doing damage,” Trump said during a White House meeting on the crisis.
“Some countries have a very, very tough penalty. The ultimate penalty and, by the way they, they have much less of a drug problem than we do,” Trump said.
His comments echo rumors around the White House of Trump speaking in glowing terms about the policies of deeply controversial Filipino leader Rodrigo Duterte.
His rule has coincided with a rash of extrajudicial killings, supposedly targeted at drug dealers, which are being investigated by the International Criminal Court.
“We need strength against pushers and drug dealers,” he said. “You have to have strength and you have to have toughness.”
So we’re going to have to be very strong on penalties.
We have pushers and drug dealers that don’t – I mean they kill hundreds and hundreds of people and most of them don’t even go to jail.
“If you shoot one person, they give you life. They give you the death penalty. These people can kill 2,000, 3,000 people and nothing happens to them.”
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Good move.
@The Eagle: take them out obviously.
@Paul Mc Manus: such a typically simplistic suggestion by Trump. Most of the people in the Us addicted to opiods and then onto heroin were prescribed it initially by doctors. Does Trump think they should get the death penalty too ?
@The Eagle: Educate yourself as to how the opioid addiction crisis happened in the US
@The Eagle: I’m not really sure what your comment means. People are becoming addicted to opiods in the us because they are being over prescribed by doctors for any type of pain. Many kids that get sports injuries are common victims. So, it’s more physical than emotional pain that is the issue
@Paul Mc Manus: war on drugs is same as the war on terror…….. farsical
A huge portion of the opioid crisis in the states is legally made pharmaceutical products.
The companies making the prescription pills are no less to blame than the street dealers that this looper wants to execute.
@john doe: Opioids have a legitimate medical use and are used by millions of people in a non-abusive fashion to alleviate pain.
Pharma companies do a lot of bad things but manufacturing these drugs is not inherently a bad thing – overprescription, drug reps and drug misuse are the real culprits.
@Malachi: the pharma company’s are behind the overprescription. They also pay the drug reps.
@Malachi: you should google ‘pill mills’
@Harry Trafford: I know they’re behind the drug reps.
I’m saying that them making the drugs in the first place isn’t an evil act, seeing as they are medically useful for many people.
What the companies do after the fact, however, is another matter.
@Malachi: have a look the the naked truth on Netflix
@Harry Trafford: and the many lobbyists.
@malachi
I’m not saying the drug/pharma companies are evil any more than those selling drugs on the black market or non prescription drugs are necessarily evil.
It is an emotionally charged perspective to equate evil with the non legality of the drug rather than the actions of those selling the drug.
The opiate crises will not be solved by executing people involved in one area of the trade, it will only be solved by addressing demand.
Interestingly, Opiate deaths have been decreasing in the US states which have legalised cannabis.
@john doe: Well, I think people selling opioids on the street to addicts are more to blame for the crisis than pharma companies who are making the drugs in the first place (which will often be used by people who need them).
I take your point though, it’s bizarre enough to single out drug dealers with a death penalty when there’s far more to the story.
@Malachi: you would be wrong. They knew they were creating addicts. They claimed their drugs were non addictive due to the release method when selling them. The opiod problem is from prescriptions
That’s a lot of pharmaceutical CEOs getting the lethal injection then.
@Philip G Roark: I don’t understand how this loon and his idiot ideas are still getting media coverage.
@Michael Knight: That’ what happens when you’re POTUS. Remember when the big news was Bush’s occasional bumbling mixed metaphors? Latest news is now the Feds are looking into Ivanka’s business shenanigans along with Jared’s. I can’t keep up.
I assume this will also apply to directors of tobacco and alcohol pushing corporations?
@Richard Nevin:
Bad assumption – the hypocrisy of society norms protects them (but I get your point and agree with its underlying statement).
The first & probably only good idea he’s ever came up with, hopefully he doesn’t ruin it by stating death penalty means when they die of old age
@DubKid: It’s not a good idea.
The death penalty is a bad idea to start with, extending the application of this senseless practice beyond violent murders is an absolutely atrocious idea.
@DubKid: death penalty for drug dealing is the stupidest idea Trump has come up with today and people who agree with him are the most infuriating kind of people in the world, next to entitled politicians. Death penalty for suppliers cannot possibly affect demand from consumers. Therefore, the incentive is still there and you’re just killing desperate parents trying to make money, regardless of what you think of their choices, or the choices of those who create the demand.
The only way to win the “war on drugs” is to legalise them. All of them. Completely.
The only reason drugs are illegal is money.
…so unless you’re personally benefiting financially from prohibition, then you’re basically being played. That’s what’s infuriating.
There is nothing practical or safe about refusing to acknowledge the demand for drugs and leaving people to buy from people with zero expertise on the effects of the products they sell. There is nothing brave or noble or ethical about drug prohibition. Saying drug dealers are the problem is extremely short sighted.
…and seeking to kill them is its own barrel of nastiness. Someone who creates a law to kill someone who may never have hurt anyone is someone to be worried about, not applauded.
Ok I’m done now
@Joe Phillips:
You can only legalize certain drugs and to certain user groups. Cannabis to adults, yes. Heroin? No. To kids under 18 or 21, No.
Alcohol to anyone under 21 in the US is illegal. Do people under 21 drink alcohol, yes. How do they achieve it? Illegally. Has alcohol being legal done anything about teenage drinking? Hint, the answer is no.
@Frank Kennedy: There will always be a demand for heroin. Leaving that to the gangs just means they’ll focus on that, get more (and younger) people addicted, to make back up the money they’re now losing on other drugs.
I realise everyone (including myself) is kinda scared of heroin but needles in dirty alleyways are enough to tell us how desperate people get to take that crap. That’s why it needs to be legal and safe to take.
Of course, that’s only if you give a flying fudge about your citizens wellbeing and are not just a self-righteous, judgmental chaser of votes from like minded a holes
@Frank Kennedy: at least kids aren’t drinkin’ homemade poitin because there are safely regulated cans of beer in the supermarkets
Hail to the chief, Donald Erdogan.
@Cian Martin: Trump is becoming more like Rodrigo Duterte, one of his idols!
The CIA and big pharma are in big trouble now.
Simple slogans for simple minds. War on drugs has been a failure. Billions spent, millions in prison, countries in civil war. Time for a rethink.
Will this apply to alcohol as well ? Alcohol is ,by far, the drug which most adversely affects society in the western world .In 60 years I have not known a single person who died from “drugs”.I have known four who died directly of alcoholism.
Ha. In the country that consumes most of the worlds cocaine supply.
He is tackling symptoms of a sick society not the cause of why people take drugs, no matter how many he executes as long as the cause exists so will those symptoms , this approach is futile and will achieve nothing but more deaths. The war on drugs as it is will never be won. Portugal worked it out, he could learn a lot from there.
Good move. Although not so good if it’s for every drug. Massive support if he’s executing the poison dealing life ruiners that are heroin dealers, not so much if people are just selling cannabis.
Such a typical trump move, we have an opioid crisis lets kill the dealers ( there will always be more to take their place.Interesting the solution by trumps so like the fascist
islamic regimes. Common bedfellows.
Lets not look at the reasons why we have such a crisis in the first place and try to stop it there.
We have kids being murdered in schools lets arm the teachers and make the situation worse.
Lets not look at how we can prevent this happening again.
Does this guy seriously have a brain ?
@Ala Alowska: ah yes,the old ‘ if you’re not with us you’re against us ‘ argument
What about punishing hsbc bank who have been laundering drug money for Mexican cartels for years. They have been caught numerous times then been caught trying to cover it up after they kept doing it. But sure they’re probably friends and business associates of yours you idiot
@Kieran Stafford: HSBC were fined a few billion and bonuses were deferred. That’ll teach ‘em! https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/outrageous-hsbc-settlement-proves-the-drug-war-is-a-joke-20121213
@Kieran Stafford: the lesson is don’t rely on thejournal.ie for all the latest news if is not weather, Trump or a poll that interests you.
@Presuming Ed: there’s a really good documentary in the Dirty Money series about that. It’s fascinating. They got a miniscule fine and had to admit their culpability. Crazy
If it was from anyone bar Trump I would listen. Too much money being made by those at the top. I think he wants the lower level dealers. The higher level probably give him money
@JJ Ryan:
“if it was anyone bar Trump” So much hate!
Must really piss you off that you think so little of him and let his life has been so full of beautiful women, fame and fortune, and then the US Presidency. And your life is so small you post your hate here in the hope of receiving thumbs-up from strangers…
@Frank Kennedy: you’ve left out the parts where he swindled people out of their life savings-robbed staffs gratuities- tried to get innocent teenagers get the death penalty & have taxpayers bail him out multiple times.So why should JJ listen to a crook like Trump ?
What about the CIA policies of the past when they allowed mass amounts of cocaine in to the black ghettos of America? That drug money was then used to fund the militias in Nicaragua, the crack epidemic across the US was started by the US government, bunch of hyprocrits. Not trusted!
This is Trump preparing the ground for legalisation. Can we agree that the status quo is a non-option regarding the “war on drugs”. The prisons are full but it’s still easy to buy drugs. The choices are to legalise or fight the war on drugs to win. By showing what it would take to win Trump is moving public opinion towards the only sensible and inevitable course. Is he that subtle? He did it before over abortion. He said if you have a crime you must have a punishment. Nobody wanted women who had abortions to be punished and it killed the issue for the entire election. Policy wise Trump is a pragmatist. Politically, he’s a genius.
That’s about half the population of the good old US of A Wiped out then. Dopey dopey Donald
He needed a headline because The Senate won’t move on guns. Also, the Torphins story is interesting
When he says “other countries do it” its usually an underdeveloped country he’s talking about, so essentially he’s making America a 3rd world country.
Goes to show what a failure this man is as President when the only solution he can think of to this problem involves killing people.
Will the people who encouraged the drug trade world wide …example guns for drugs Iran /Contra …which is going on today under a different guise be included in this farcical performance.
@Donal Desmond:
Its not within the scope of what he said, but if I could read that, I’m sure you could too, so maybe you want to be clearer – your saying, as the “big thinker you are” that new laws should encompass the CIA-sanctioned crime element that US government externally denies happening, but actually fund? Why would the US government implement a law that could be used to indict themselves? That’s just stupid.
The prison unions love this.
Cigarettes and alcohol kill far more
So he’s going to kill all the CEO s of the pharmaceutical companies, and doctors who prescribe the opioids is it ?
Moron
What is this, 19 F-ing 50 where people where to stupid/naive to understand that drug dealing in the grand scheme of things has little or nothing to do with the majority of us. A fake war waged and trumpeted by scrupulous people. Cigarettes, cars, Americans with guns kill infinitely more people and actually have an effect on the majority of us.
I can’t imagine his buddies the Sacklers will even have to pay a cent of their billions for the damage they’ve caused.
The problem with tackling drugs solely from the supply side is that it doesn’t stop the demand. Take Russia for example. They have really harsh sentences against drug dealing (and treat addicts disgracefully also), so people take Krocodil they make themselves.
Take a look at what happened after the crack epidemic (which was nothing in numbers compared to the opioid epidemic). Harsh sentences did nothing to stop crack abuse, drove the prison system to ruin, and destroyed families. Same with meth.
The opioid epidemic was an accident waiting to happen. A well meaning desire to help people in pain was hijacked by Purdue pharma and insurance companies who decided to cover only pain pills (instead of the trifecta of pain pills, supervised physio and psychology suggested by pain relief orgs) because they were cheapest.
This coincided with the de-industrialization of America. Places like Ohio and Kentucky lost a lot of good paying jobs, and produced a lot of poor, broken down people, reliant on state medical coverage (who only covered the pain pills because they were cheap). Then those folks children came of age, with no prospects and access to a cheap high in a pain pill.
Finally when America woke up to this, they overreacted, punished pharmacies, doctors, real pain patients and the addicts and guaranteed a black market in “Oxys”. While at the same time, small time heroin dealers from Mexico (not cartel affiliated) started trading in those states. They were non violent, offered deliveries, and effectively marketed heroin to this new demographic of customers. Basically taking the danger out of buying heroin.
The point is, so long as you have a demand, there will be people willing to take the risk regardless, because the money is worth the risk, and its easy money so long as you don’t get caught (and not many do). The solution needs to be 3 fold in my opinion:
1.The decriminalization of heroin addiction, heroin prescribing and other resources diverted to assisting current addicts.
2. Develop a National Pain Management Strategy that ensures people who need strong pain medication along with other supports, get it, and people who don’t, don’t.
3. They need border security increased significantly. Right now, its too too easy to get over the border with drugs.
@Tony Kennedy:
I’m not saying you’re not right but ‘heroin’ is a huge trigger word in most people’s minds and I don’t see anyone wanting reelection, at a local or national level, championing the legalization of heroin even if its the solution. Agreed with border control comment – the US has a 2,000 mile border with the 3rd largest drug producing country in the world, and some ridiculously low level of container freight is checked. And the medical profession needs to tighten up – some huge number of prescriptions are approved online and delivered remotely – authorized by staff on behalf of the doctor in huge organizations with shared staff logins, constant staff changes, Schedule II drugs on automatic renewals etc.
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