President Trump isn’t one to shy away from playing up to the crowd. At an event in Manchester New Hampshire, he took another shot at playing to his base. In a state riddled by opioid abuse, he reminded people that he’s all for the death penalty when it comes to drug dealers.
Trump said during the rally that the United States must “get tough” on opioids. “And that toughness includes the death penalty,” he said.
Neither Trump nor the White House gave further details as to when it would be appropriate to seek the death penalty.
Trump said that he was working with Congress to find $6 billion in new funding for 2018 and 2019 to fight the opioid crisis. The plan will also seek to cut opioid prescriptions by a third over three years by changing federal programs, he said.
Addiction to opioids – mainly prescription painkillers, heroin and fentanyl – is a growing U.S. problem, especially in rural areas. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 42,000 people died from opioid overdoses in 2016.
Now, while saying things like that in a state like that makes sense. It draws comparisons to Black and Brown faces selling pills on the corner. But will these death penalties include high-ups inside pharmaceutical companies who ok flooding the streets with millions of pills? Wonder how that would play out at a rally?
Per: Reuters