The state execution of drug smugglers that President Donald Trump has pushed for as part of his plan to combat the opioid crisis is already legal under a 1994 law passed at the height of the crack cocaine epidemic.

But in 24 years, federal prosecutors have never once used it. They hardly need to, considering the draconian penalties already available for punishing convicted drug smugglers.

Signed by President Bill Clinton, the 1994 death penalty statute was part of a clampdown on drug dealers in response to the crack epidemic, linked to a surge of crime and violence in American cities in the 1980s and 1990s. But it was a bridge too far even for zealous prosecutors because many believed it would be found to violate the Eighth Amendment prohibition of cruel and unusual punishment, said Ojmarrh Mitchell, a professor of statistics and criminology at the University of South Florida.

“In the absence of a direct link to a death, the constitutionality of death penalty prosecution is shaky at best,” said Douglas Berman, a law professor at Ohio State University.

The 1994 legislative package authorizes capital punishment against a defendant who directs a continuing criminal enterprise involving either large quantities of drugs or generating $20 million a year from the enterprise. It also includes 20-year mandatory minimum sentences for drug sales that result in overdose deaths. It has been used to execute drug kingpins for murders committed in the course of their business.

At the state level, meanwhile, at least 20 states have their own “drug-induced homicide” laws, which increasingly are used to prosecute opioid dealers whose drug sales result in accidental overdose deaths.

But in as many as half of the state homicide-by-drugs cases, the accused dealer is also the wife, husband, parent or friend of the victim — and also a drug addict.

This points to the schizoid nature of a policy that seeks to boost treatment for drug users while lowering the boom on drug dealers. Often, say researchers and prosecutors, user and dealer are one and the same — and neither knows the specific drug substances in play.

“The evil villain in this story is very hard to find,” said John Roman, a drug policy researcher at NORC at the University of Chicago. “The people who are convenient for arrest for the most part aren’t that evil villain.”

In its comment on a 2008 child rape case, the Supreme Court effectively removed drug smuggling per se as a capital crime, said Berman. “It has never been pursued, and if it were pursued with Trump’s urging, there would be extensive litigation that would go to the Supreme Court.”

Trump might have more luck convincing Congress to pass a law under the 1987 Tison v. Arizona case, in which the court approved the death penalty on the grounds of “reckless indifference to human life,” Berman said. That standard might apply, say, to a dealer wrangling pounds of carfentanil, which is 5,000 times as potent as a unit of heroin and which can kill in nearly molecular doses.

But most policy experts view harsh drug sentences as causing more harm than good by sending hundreds of thousands of small-time criminals to prison. The war on drugs has had no impact on drug prices, for instance.

“There were 15,000 drug offenders behind bars in 1980, and 500,000 today, but the price of heroin is at an all-time low, the price of cocaine is at an all-time low,” says Mark Kleiman, a drug policy expert at New York University.

There are dealers who “are in this to make money and don’t care if they kill people in the process,” and “those people should be incarcerated,” said Thomas Carr, director of the Washington/Baltimore High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area, part of a White House-coordinated anti-drug effort.

But “a lot of people buying or selling are not aware that they are buying fentanyl,” Carr said. “They think it’s heroin.”

Trump invoked the death penalty six times during his remarks in New Hampshire, a state hit hard by the addiction crisis. Attorney General Jeff Sessions said in a statement later Monday that his Justice Department would “continue to aggressively prosecute drug traffickers and we will use federal law to seek the death penalty wherever appropriate.”

Sessions has already pushed for harsher penalties for dealers, including by increasing charges for handling tiny amounts of fentanyl.

Ironically, however, prosecutions of drug use and trafficking declined in fiscal year 2017. This followed a trend begun in the Obama administration, which encouraged alternatives to prison time. Post-election reorganization of federal prosecutors’ offices may have stymied Sessions, Berman said.

In one recent case, in December, federal prosecutors obtained a 30-year sentence against a Wellington, Fla., drug dealer whose client died after taking a mixture of heroin and fentanyl.

Jon Zibbell, a medical anthropologist at RTI International who regularly interviews opioid dealers and users, warned against a 1980s-style panic in response to fentanyl’s lethality. A major new drug enforcement push could swell the prison population with low-level dealers without making a dent in supply — just like the response to the crack epidemic, he said.

“There’s this myth out there that dealers don’t care if their users live or die,” Zibbell said. “I’ve never encountered that. I just think that fentanyl is a hard product to mix safely.”

State and federal prosecutors, under pressure from grief-stricken relatives of overdose victims, are pressing for harsh penalties against dealers, said Dave Aronberg, state attorney for Palm Beach County.

“The No. 1 thing the federal government could do to reduce deaths is to pressure China to end export of fentanyl, because that’s what’s killing people,” he added.</s>Noel Celis, AFP | An alleged drug dealer is handcuffed during a police operation conducted in Manila on March 15, 2018. Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte announced Wednesday a move towards quitting the ICC, which has launched a preliminary examination.

Philippine police said Thursday they had shot dead 13 drug suspects, just days after President Rodrigo Duterte moved to take the country out of the International Criminal Court over its inquiry into his deadly drug war.

Advertising Read more

The suspects were killed Wednesday in the northern province of Bulacan, an official statement said, an area where police have previously launched lethal crackdowns on illegal drugs.

"Bulacan police are continuously and relentlessly implementing their intensified campaign against illegal drugs," the statement said, adding there had been more than 100 arrests.

The war crimes tribunal, based in The Hague, last month launched a preliminary inquiry into Duterte's bloody crackdown on narcotics, amid allegations Philippine security forces may have committed crimes against humanity.

Killings are 'systematic and widespread', says HRW's Carlos Conde

Philippine police have said they have killed roughly 4,100 suspects who fought back during arrest, but rights groups allege the actual number is three times higher and accuse the authorities of murder.

"The president himself has denied access to the special rapporteur and has launched a vicious attack against the United Nations and the rapporteur, Agnès Callamard, undermining her credibility and discouraging her from investigating these killings,” Carlos Conde, a researcher for Human Rights Watch Asia Division, told FRANCE 24.

'A determined evasion of accountability'

The war crimes tribunal opened in 2002 to try abuses in countries where national courts cannot or will not prosecute. Manila in 2011 ratified the Rome Statute that created the court.

Manila gave official notice to the United Nations last week that it would withdraw, days after Duterte announced his country would quit the court over alleged "baseless, unprecedented and outrageous attacks" against his government's rights record.

Foreign Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano said last Friday the Philippines was pushing back against "the well-orchestrated campaign to mislead the international community, to crucify President Duterte... by distorting the human rights situation in the country".

The tribunal has urged Manila to reconsider its decision, adding that officially quitting the court requires a year's notice and does not preclude its preliminary inquiry into the drug war killings, which have drawn international concern.

Duterte, who is buoyed by high popularity ratings at home, has fiercely defended the drug war as a battle to bring safety to the nation's 100 million people.

He has frequently urged authorities to kill drug suspects while promising to protect police from legal sanction.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP)</s>Donald Trump talked about getting tough on drug dealers on Monday in New Hampshire, his first visit there since his 2016 campaign.

New Hampshire has the country’s third-highest death rate from overdoses. In his speech at a community college there, Trump talked about pushing for the death penalty for drug dealers and arresting illegal immigrants, but he offered few specific plans, including how this would be funded. (The New York Times)

In a speech Monday in New Hampshire, Donald Trump talked about getting tough on drug dealers. OC:…death penalty. :14 [Courtesy of 24/7 News Source] “We can have all the blue-ribbon committees we want, but if we don’t get tough of the drug dealers, we’re wasting our time, and that toughness includes the death penalty.”
• Trump is talking tough about drug dealers, but what happened to his tough talk about standing up to the NRA?
• How about drug companies and doctors? Aren’t they part of this problem, too?
• Trump is right. Drug dealers responsible for overdose deaths should face the death penalty.</s>Philippine police killed 13 suspected drug dealers and arrested more than 100 people in dozens of anti-narcotics operations on Wednesday in a province north of the capital, its police chief said.

More than 4,000 Filipinos have been killed by police, and thousands more by unidentified armed men, during President Rodrigo Duterte’s controversial 20-month war on drugs. Most killings have been in rundown areas of Manila and the nearby provinces of Bulacan and Cavite.

Human rights groups and Duterte’s political opponents say executions of drug users and small-time peddlers are widespread, but police insist those killed were all dealers who put up violent resistance.

Police in Bulacan ran about 60 sting operations in nine towns, the police chief said on Thursday.

Bulacan is where 32 people were killed in a single day in August last year. Last month, an additional 10 drug suspects died in a bloody night of drug busts.

“These operations are part of our stepped-up campaign against drugs and all other forms of criminality in the province,” Bulacan police chief Romeo Caramat said in a statement. “Unfortunately, 13 of the suspects were killed when our officers fired in self-defence shortly after the suspects who were armed with concealed guns sensed they were being entrapped and started firing.”

More than 100 people were also arrested and 19 firearms and about 250 packets of suspected drugs were seized during the 24-hour operation, Caramat said.

Last month, a prosecutor at the International Criminal Court (ICC) in the Hague opened a preliminary examination into a complaint accusing Duterte and at least 11 officials of crimes against humanity.

The Philippines last week notified the United Nations of its decision to withdraw from the ICC because of what Duterte called outrageous attacks by UN officials and violations of due process.</s>MANILA, Philippines (AP) — A Philippine police official says law enforcers have killed 13 drug suspects and arrested more than 100 suspected dealers and criminals in 24 hours of raids in a province with a record of bloody crackdowns.

Police Senior Superintendent Romeo Caramat Jr. says the 13 drug suspects were killed Wednesday in gunbattles with police in a city and eight towns in Bulacan province just north of Manila. More than 70 raids were launched by the police in Bulacan that day, leading to the arrests of 109 people, including 92 suspected drug dealers and users.

The latest violence raises the death toll in President Rodrigo Duterte’s anti-drug crackdown to 4,239 since it was launched in July 2016. The U.S. and European countries have expressed alarm over the drug killings.</s>Thirteen alleged drug traffickers were shot dead by the police in 24 hours in the Bulacan province in Philippines as part of President Rodrigo Duterte's war on drugs.

The police killed 13 suspects and arrested another 109 during an intensive operation that lasted from Tuesday midnight to Thursday, according to a statement by the National Police in Bulacan, a province located north of Manila with a population of 2.2 million.</s>Philippine police said they killed 13 drug suspects and arrested more than 100 suspected dealers and criminals in 24 hours of raids in a province with a record of bloody crackdowns.

The suspects were killed in gunbattles with police in a city and eight towns in Bulacan province just north of Manila, said police Senior Superintendent Romeo Caramat Jr. More than 70 raids were launched in Bulacan on Wednesday, leading to the arrests of 109 people, including 92 suspected drug dealers and users, he said.

 

 The latest violence raises the death toll in President Rodrigo Duterte's anti-drug crackdown to 4,239 since it was launched in July 2016, with more than 131,500 others arrested. Governments led by the United States and the EU have expressed alarm and called on the Philippines to take steps to halt the bloodshed.

 

 Human rights groups have cited much higher death tolls and called for an independent investigation, including by the United Nations.

 

 Duterte has lashed out at critics and declared last week that the Philippines was backing out of the International Criminal Court, where he's facing a possible complaint for the thousands of killings.

 

 In the raids, police seized more than 250 small packets of methamphetamine, marijuana and 19 firearms, including a rifle and a shotgun, police said. A similar crackdown in the province in August left 32 alleged drug offenders dead in the highest single-day toll in the nearly two years of the crackdown.

 

 Last month, Bulacan police killed 10 drug suspects in a 24-hour sweep.

 

 "These operations are part of our stepped-up campaign against drugs and all other forms of criminality in the province," Caramat said. "Unfortunately, 13 of the suspects were killed when our officers fired in self-defense."'

 

 In one of the firefights in San Jose del Monte city, three motorcycle-riding drug dealers were killed in a clash when they sensed that a drug buyer was an officer, Caramat said. Backup officers returned fire and killed the three but a fourth suspect escaped, Caramat said, adding three pistols were taken from the three.

 

 Duterte has denied ordering police to carry out extrajudicial killings but has repeatedly threatened suspected drug lords and dealers with death in public speeches. He cites police casualties — at least 91 dead and 227 wounded — as proof of the danger law enforcers face.

 

 Human rights groups, however, have said their investigations showed officers gunned down arrested suspects then set up crime scenes to make it appear the unarmed suspects opened fire first.</s>Manila: Thirteen alleged drug traffickers were shot dead by the police in 24 hours in Philippines’ Bulacan province as part of President Rodrigo Duterte’s war on drugs.

The police killed 13 suspects and arrested another 109 during an intensive operation that lasted from Tuesday midnight to Thursday, according to a statement by the National Police in Bulacan province located north of Manila with a population of 2.2 million.

During the raid, the police also seized 101 grams of shabu — a hydrochloride of methamphetamine — the cheapest and most popular drug among the poor in the country, 670 grams of marijuana, 18 assorted firearms and 18 pieces of ammunition, Efe news reported.

The anti-drugs campaign, launched by Duterte after taking office in June 2016, has left over 4,000 people dead, according to latest official figures.

Bulacan province, among the worst affected by the anti-drug campaign, came into the spotlight in August last year after a record 32 drug suspects were killed in the region in a span of 24 hours.

In addition to the 4,000 people killed in police raids throughout the Philippines, it is estimated that at least another 3,000 people were killed by vigilante groups, especially in the first few months of the campaign, encouraged by an environment of impunity.

The campaign is backed by close to 90 per cent of Filipinos but has been strongly denounced by other countries and international organizations for rampant human rights abuses.

Duterte, however, has remained unfazed by the criticism and reiterated that the campaign will continue until drug-trafficking and crime is wiped out from the country.</s>MANILA, Philippines - Philippine police said Thursday they killed 13 drug suspects and arrested more than 100 suspected dealers and criminals in one day of raids in a province with a record of bloody crackdowns.

The suspects were killed in gunbattles with police in a city and eight towns in Bulacan province just north of Manila, said police Senior Superintendent Romeo Caramat Jr. More than 70 raids were launched in the province on Wednesday, leading to the arrests of 109 people, including 92 suspected drug dealers and users, he said.

The violence raises the death toll in President Rodrigo Duterte's anti-drug crackdown to 4,239 since it was launched in July 2016, with more than 131,500 others arrested, the national police said. The United States, EU and other governments have expressed alarm and called on the Philippines to curb the bloodshed.

Human rights groups have cited much higher death tolls and called for an independent investigation, including by the United Nations.

Duterte has lashed out at critics and declared last week that the Philippines was backing out of the International Criminal Court, where he's facing a possible complaint for the thousands of killings.

In the raids, police seized more than 250 small packets of methamphetamine, marijuana and 19 firearms, police said. A similar crackdown in the province in August left 32 suspected drug offenders dead in the highest single-day toll in the nearly two-year campaign.

"These operations are part of our stepped-up campaign against drugs and all other forms of criminality in the province," Caramat said. "Unfortunately, 13 of the suspects were killed when our officers fired in self-defence."

Caramat said in one incident in San Jose del Monte city, three motorcycle-riding drug dealers were killed when they sensed that a drug buyer was an officer. Backup officers returned fire and killed the three but a fourth suspect escaped, Caramat said, adding that three pistols were confiscated.

Duterte has denied ordering police to carry out extrajudicial killings but has repeatedly threatened suspected drug lords and dealers with death in public speeches. He cites police casualties - at least 91 dead and 227 wounded - as proof of the danger law enforcers face.

Human rights groups, however, say their investigations have showed that officers have killed arrested suspects and then set up crime scenes to make it appear the unarmed suspects opened fire first.

Despite Duterte's move to disengage the Philippines from the ICC, which takes effect a year after he withdraws from the ICC treaty, the high tribunal in The Hague said Tuesday that the move won't derail an ongoing preliminary examination into possible crimes committed under the anti-drug crackdown.

Asked how the president will respond if the ICC seeks his comment on alleged extrajudicial killings, presidential spokesman Harry Roque Jr. told a news conference in Manila he did not think "the ICC can look forward to co-operation from the Philippines as a state-party or a soon-to-be former state-party to the International Criminal Court."

"I do not know how the ICC can proceed without co-operation from the Philippine state," Roque said.</s>STEPHENS COUNTY, OK (KSWO)- Twelve suspected drug dealers are behind bars after a wide-ranging raid across Stephens County. 



District Attorney Jason Hicks said the arrests were the result of a year-long investigation.



He said their focus was primarily on meth dealers, not users.



More than 50 officers took part in the sweep, which started around 5 a.m. Wednesday morning in several towns, including Duncan, Marlow, Comanche and Velma.
Police in the Philippines fatally shoot 13 suspected drug dealers in Bulacan.