Exclusive: Trump finalizing opioid plan that includes death penalty for dealers

[DonViejo]

Source: Politico




By DAN DIAMOND 03/15/2018 01:31 PM EDT Updated 03/15/2018 07:24 PM EDT

The Trump administration is finalizing a long-awaited plan that it says will solve the opioid crisis, but it also calls for law enforcement measures — like the death penalty for some drug dealers — that public health advocates and congressional Republicans warn will detract from efforts to reverse the epidemic.

The ambitious plan, which the White House has quietly been circulating among political appointees this month, could be announced as soon as Monday when President Donald Trump visits New Hampshire, a state hard hit by the epidemic. It includes a mix of prevention and treatment measures that advocates have long endorsed, as well as beefed-up enforcement in line with the president’s frequent calls for a harsh crackdown on drug traffickers and dealers.

Trump’s plan to use the death penalty in some cases found at least one fan among congressional Republicans: Rep. Chris Collins of New York, one of the president’s most consistent cheerleaders. “I’m all in on the capital punishment side for those offenses that would warrant that,” he said when asked about the plans Thursday afternoon. “Including drug cases. Yep.”

But several congressional Democrats said they were alarmed by Trump's plan to ramp up punishment. “We are still paying the costs for one failed 'war on drugs,' and now President Trump is drawing up battle plans for another," said Sen. Ed Markey of Massachusetts. "We will not incarcerate or execute our way out of the opioid epidemic."

Read more: https://www.politico.com/story/2018/03/15/exclusive-trump-finalizing-opioid-plan-death-penalty-418488

[bucolic_frolic]

1. Note for the record

President Trump favors capital punishment

[Bernardo de La Paz]

4. Trump likes Duterte. . . . . nt

[elehhhhna]

5. Wants to expand

Ftfy

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

2. Isn't a lot of the problem that doctors are overprescribing?

I wonder how many docs will need to get the death penalty for Trump to figure out that might not be such a great idea.

[bucolic_frolic]

3. Yes there are doctors overprescribing

we've had several cases here in the mid-Atlantic of prescription mills, doctors getting massive fees or even kickbacks
to write those prescriptions.

[FakeNoose]

6. Death penalty to the wealthy over-prescribing doctors!

Every last one of them! There, it's fixed.

[Blue_Tires]

7. I'm pretty sure this proposal is being crafted

exclusively for black folks and Latinos....

[betsuni]

9. I assume the "some" is in there because someone reminded him that white people can be dealers too.

Think of the white drug dealer vote.

[dixiegrrrrl]

10. and poor whites.

Every drug law we have has targeted non-whites much more than whites.

[Angry Dragon]

12. Pharma CEOs need to go too

[backtoblue]

8. I really thought this was satire

I had to read twice and make sure I was in LBN. Barbaric, evil spawn drump is. Sorry I don't have a better reply, but holy hell.

[Dan]

11. You have to wonder

How many police will die as a result of this...

[flibbitygiblets]

13. Counterproposal: Death penalty for TRAITORS

Sounds like a much more fitting punishment for the crime to me.

[KY_EnviroGuy]

14. Since big pharma corporations are now people...

I wonder what a certain group of them would look like on death row. The entire board of directors? Only the CEO and CFO?

Let's all rally and shout in unison: "Lock 'em up".

People are asking!........ ...........

[Nitram]

15. That's a law that will never be passed.

[Maxheader]

16. Some docs pay the penalty...

WICHITA, Kan. -- A federal judge on Thursday upheld the decades-long prison sentences of a Kansas doctor and his wife who were convicted in a moneymaking conspiracy linked to 68 drug overdose deaths.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/painkiller-prescription-prison-sentence-upheld-for-doctor-and-wife-in-kansas/

[UpInArms]

17. Wonder if doctor shopping Limbaugh would qualify for that penalty?

Because .. wasn’t that a way of making doctors into dealers?