President Donald Trump has suggested the death penalty could be the appropriate punishment for drug traffickers.
‘Think of it, you kill one person you get the death penalty, in many states,’ Trump said on Saturday night at a rally in Moon Township, Pennsylvania.
‘You kill 5,000 people with drugs, because you’re smuggling them in and you’re making a lot of money, and people are dying and they don’t even do anything,’ he continued.
‘Then you wonder why we have a problem, and that’s why we have a problem. I don’t think we should play games!’ he said.
‘I never did polling on that, I don’t know if that’s popular. I don’t know if that’s unpopular. Probably you’ll have some people who say ‘Oh that’s not nice’, Trump continued. ‘But these people are killing our kids and killing our families! And we have to do something.’
Trump remarked on Saturday night at a rally in Moon Township, Pennsylvania that the nation should consider the death penalty for drug dealers, whose products kill ‘thousands’
This map shows countries with capital punishment for drug offenses in red, and countries that allow the death penalty for drug offenses only in special circumstances in yellow. The US Supreme Court has left open the possibility of death for ‘drug kingpin activity’
Trump cited Singapore and China for their ‘zero tolerance’ policy on drugs.
In fact, 33 countries allow the death penalty for drug offenses, many of them in Asia, according to a 2012 report from Harm Reduction International.
Surprisingly, the US is among them, at least in theory.
In 2008, the Supreme Court ruled in Kennedy vs Louisiana left open the question of whether the death penalty for ‘offenses against the State’ including ‘drug kingpin activity’ would be constitutionally permissible.
The latest Gallup polls show that just 55 per cent in the US are in favor of the death penalty for murder – a decline from recent decades, but higher than the historic lows in the 1960s.
Any move to institute the death penalty for drug crimes would likely spur court challenges, as well as comparisons to Filipino strongman Rody Duerte among Trump’s detractors.
This entry card issued to all foreigners visiting Singapore carries a stark warning to traffickers
Trump’s call for the death penalty for drug crimes is sure to spur comparisons to Filipino strongman Rody Duerte (pictured) among Trump’s detractors
Duerte has led a bloody crusade against drugs in his own country, with death squads targeting pushers and users alike.
Last year, Trump congratulated Duterte for his efforts in eradicating drugs from the country, according to a leaked transcript of their phone call.
‘I just wanted to congratulate you because I am hearing of the unbelievable job on the drug problem,’ Trump reportedly said in his call with Duerte.
‘Many countries have the problem, we have a problem, but what a great job you are doing and I just wanted to call and tell you that.’
In 2016, every day an average of 175 people died of drug overdoses in the US.
Drug overdoses are now the leading cause of death for Americans under age 50.