President Donald Trump’s recent threats to execute drug dealers are reportedly materializing in his final plan to combat the opioid addiction epidemic that has killed tens of thousands of people annually in recent years.
According to Politico, the proposal—expected to be unveiled next week when the president visits New Hampshire, one of the hardest-hit states—will call for capital punishment for dealers and traffickers in “certain cases where opioid, including Fentanyl-related, drug dealing and trafficking are directly responsible for death.”
The notion of state-sanctioned executions of drug dealers has alarmed public health experts and criminal justice reform advocates in recent days, as Trump has expressed admiration for Filipino President Rodrigo Duterte’s deadly war on drugs and similar measures by other leaders.
Human rights groups have condemned Duterte’s drug war as it has led to thousands of deaths in poor communities, many at the hands of the Philippine National Police.
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