Trump doubles down on call for death penalty for drug dealers
President Trump on Monday traveled to New Hampshire to rail against drug dealers responsible for the deadly opioid epidemic devastating the US — vowing “tough action” including the death penalty.
“We have to get tough on those people because we can have all the blue ribbon committees we want, but if we don’t get tough on the drug dealers, we are wasting our time. Just remember that. We’re wasting our time. [And] that toughness includes the death penalty,” Trump told a crowd in Manchester.
New Hampshire ranks third per capita in the US — behind West Virginia and Ohio — in drug overdose deaths, and the president campaigned on the issue prior to the election.
He also stressed prevention programs and treatment for those already addicted.
The president also suggested public service commercials and programs that would scare people away from addictive drugs
“This is something that I have been very strongly in favor of, spending a lot of money on great commercials showing how so that kids seeing those on television shows or on the internet, when they see these commercials, they say ‘I don’t want any part of it,’” he said.
“That’s the least expensive thing we can do, where you scare them from ending up like the people in the commercials and will make them very, very bad commercials. We’ll make them pretty unsavory situations.”
The president then veered off into politics, claiming that “90 percent” of the heroin in the US comes across the southern border — and castigated Democrats for opposing his border wall and supporting sanctuary cities.
“Eventually the Democrats will agree with us and will build the wall to keep the damn drugs out,” he said.
The White House also unveiled a new video, “Opioids: The Crisis Next Door,” which focuses on the epidemic and allows viewers to share their own stories.