Trump calls for death penalty for drug traffickers. Do you agree?

As the opioid crisis continues to ravage the nation, steps are being taken on the state and federal levels to help combat the issue.

President Donald Trump, speaking Monday in New Hampshire, called for increased awareness about drug addiction and expanded access to proven treatment and recovery efforts, and tougher penalties for those caught trafficking highly addictive drugs.

The most striking part of Trump’s long-awaited plan was his call for the death penalty to be an option for punishment for certain drug dealing and trafficking offenses.

“This isn’t about nice anymore,” Trump said. “This is about winning a very, very tough problem and if we don’t get very tough on these dealers it’s not going to happen folks … I want to win this battle.”

Whether that manner of punishment is constitutional or not is unclear. Doug Berman, a law professor at Ohio State University, told The Associated Press that the issue would likely be litigated all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Opioids, including prescription opioids, heroin and synthetic drugs such as fentanyl, killed more than 42,000 people in the U.S. in 2016, more than any other year on record, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“Drug traffickers kill so many thousands of our citizens every year,” Trump said, via AP. “That’s why my Department of Justice will be seeking so many tougher penalties than we’ve ever had and we'll be focusing on the penalties that I talked about previously for big pushers, the ones that are killing so many people, and that penalty is going to be the death penalty.”

The awareness and prevention portion of Trump’s plan focuses on a nationwide public awareness campaign to scare kids away from dabbling in drug in the first place He announced the new website — http://www.crisisnextdoor.gov — where Americans can upload videos to share their experiences with the dangers of opioids.

Trump also said his administrations would work to cut the number of opioid prescriptions that are filled by one-third within three years, and that his plan for a U.S.-Mexico border wall and punishing “sanctuary” cities that refuse to comply with federal immigration authorities would also help reduce the drug flow.

The president declared the crisis a national public health emergency in October.

Similarly, Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf declared a statewide disaster emergency in January to enhance the state response and increase access to treatment.

On Monday, administration officials unveiled the Pennsylvania Overdose Information Network. The network is a centralized repository used to track overdoses, naloxone administrations and investigative drug information to be used by professionals across different fields to better track and share opioid information as it relates to different communities.

“For law enforcement and criminal justice agencies, ODIN provides crucial data about overdoses, heroin seizures, locations of opioid-related incidents, and other critical information to aid in the apprehension of offenders who bring illegal drugs into our communities,” Wolf said. “This technology allows law enforcement to streamline real-time data sharing so actionable information does not slip through the cracks.”

This story was originally published March 19, 2018 at 6:55 PM with the headline "Trump calls for death penalty for drug traffickers. Do you agree?."