Trump calls for death penalty to get tough on drug pushers

MANCHESTER, N.H. (AP) — Unveiling a long-awaited plan to combat the national scourge of opioid drug addiction, President Donald Trump called Monday for stiffer penalties for drug traffickers, including embracing a tactic employed by some of the global strongmen he admires: the death penalty.

“Toughness is the thing that they most fear,” Trump said.

The president traveled to New Hampshire, a state ravaged by opioids and which is also an early marker for the re-election campaign he has already announced. The president called for broadening awareness about drug addiction while expanding access to proven treatment and recovery efforts, but the backbone of his plan is to toughen the punishment for those caught trafficking highly addictive drugs.

“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.”

The president formalized what he had long mused about publicly and privately: that if a person in the U.S. can get the death penalty or life in prison for shooting one person, a similar punishment should be given to a drug dealer who potentially kills thousands.

Trump has long spoken approvingly about countries like Singapore that have fewer issues with drug addiction because they harshly punish their dealers. During a trip to Asia last fall, he did not publicly rebuke Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte, who authorized extrajudicial killings of his nation’s drug dealers.

Outside a local firehouse that Trump visited before the speech, someone compared the leaders with a sign that said: “Donald J. Duterte.”

“Drug traffickers kill so many thousands of our citizens every year,” Trump said. “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.”

He added: “Other countries don’t play games. ... But the ultimate penalty has to be the death penalty.”

The Justice Department said the federal death penalty is available for limited drug-related offenses, including violations of the “drug kingpin” provisions in federal law.

It is not clear if the death penalty, even for traffickers whose product causes multiple deaths, would be constitutional. Doug Berman, a law professor at Ohio State University, predicted the issue would be litigated all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.

John Blume, a professor and director of Cornell Law School’s death penalty program, said the Federal Drug Kingpin Act has yielded few “kingpins” or major dealers, mostly ensnaring mid- to low-level minorities involved in the drug trade.

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.

Trump has declared that fighting the epidemic is a priority for the administration, but critics say the effort has fallen short.

Last October, the president declared the crisis a national public health emergency, short of the national state of emergency sought by a presidential commission he put together to study the issue.

Trump called for a nationwide public awareness campaign, which he announced in October, to scare kids away from dabbling in drugs. He announced a new website, www.crisisnextdoor.gov , where members of the public can share stories about the dangers of opioid addiction.

Trump said the administration will work to cut the number of opioid prescriptions that are filled by one-third within three years.

The president also discussed how his policies, including a U.S.-Mexico border wall and punishing “sanctuary” cities that refuse to comply with federal immigration authorities, would help reduce the flow of drugs and help end the addiction epidemic.

Monday was Trump’s first visit as president to New Hampshire, which has long occupied a special place in his political rise. He captured his first Republican presidential primary here in 2016, though he narrowly lost in the general election to Democrat Hillary Clinton.

Trump drew criticism last year after leaked transcripts of a telephone conversation with Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto showed he had described New Hampshire as a “drug-infested den.” The Washington Post published the transcripts.

Though the 2020 election is more than 30 months away, early jockeying is already happening in states that play an outsized early role in choosing a party’s nominee. Retiring Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., a persistent Trump critic, visited New Hampshire, which holds the nation’s first presidential primary, last week. He told Republicans someone needs to stop Trump — and it could be him if no one steps up.

Meanwhile, the president’s daughter, White House senior adviser Ivanka Trump, spent Monday discussing infrastructure and workplace development in Iowa, which traditionally holds the first presidential nominating caucus.</s>(CNN) President Donald Trump will roll out new plans to tackle the country's opioid epidemic on Monday in New Hampshire, the White House said Sunday.

The plan will include stiffer penalties for high-intensity drug traffickers, including the death penalty for some, Andrew Bremberg, director of the White House Domestic Policy Council, told reporters Sunday.

Trump's long-awaited plan will focus on three areas: Law enforcement and interdiction, prevention and education through a sizable advertising campaign,, improving the ability to fund treatment through the federal government, and help those impacted by the epidemic find jobs while fighting addiction, Bremberg and White House counselor Kellyanne Conway said.

Congress recently appropriated $6 billion to combat the opioid epidemic, and a senior administration official told CNN that Trump's plan will lay out how the administration believes that money should be spent.

The concept of the death penalty for certain drug traffickers is something Trump has been outspoken about, but this will be the first time it will be part of an official administration plan.

"The Department of Justice will seek the death penalty against drug traffickers when it's appropriate under current law," Bremberg told reporters during a phone call Sunday evening.

Trump called for the death penalty to drug dealers earlier this month at a rally in Pennsylvania. His plan is expected to focus on sentencing reforms for drug dealers that would stiffen penalties for high-intensity drug dealers while "other people languishing in prison for these low-level drug crimes," a senior administration official said.

"The President thinks that the punishment doesn't fit the crime," the official said, adding that these penalties would be for dealers who bring large quantities of opioids -- particular fentanyl -- into the United States, not the people that are "are growing pot in the backyard or a friend who has a low-level possession crime.

"His plan will address, and he will address, the stiffening of penalties for the people who are bringing the poison into our communities," the official added.

The official stressed that the speech and plan are still being reviewed and subject to change, meaning how much Trump focuses on the death penalty and tougher punishment is still uncertain.

On Sunday's call with reporters, administration officials would not get into specifics on Trump's death penalty proposal and referred all questions to the Department of Justice. When asked if the death penalty would be an appropriate punishment for some traffickers, a senior administration official again referred the question to the department but said capital punishment would be fitting in some instances.

The official said the death penalty proposal would be something the Justice Department will be "examining to move ahead with to make sure that's done appropriately" and not wait for Congress to propose possible legislation on the matter.

In support of the proposal, Trump told an audience in Pennsylvania this month that "a drug dealer will kill 2,000, 3,000, 5,000 people during the course of his or her life" and not be punished as much as a murderer.

"Thousands of people are killed or their lives are destroyed, their families are destroyed. So you can kill thousands of people and go to jail for 30 days," Trump said. "They catch a drug dealer, they don't even put them in jail."

Trump then touted the way Singapore handled drug dealers with the death penalty.

"That means if we catch a drug dealer, death penalty," Trump said.

Trump's talk of stricter penalties for drug crimes has worried some treatment advocates, who have said there is no way the United States can punish its way out of the opioid epidemic.

The New Hampshire event will bring both the President and first lady to the key presidential campaign state for the first time since Trump won the presidency in 2016. The state has been an epicenter in the fight against opioids and Trump's focus on the scourge came from events he headlined in the state where he heard about the epidemic.

Recently released numbers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that around 64,000 people died from drug overdoses in 2016. And since 1999, the number of American overdose deaths involving opioids has quadrupled.

Trump's plan is also expected to include a federally backed ad campaign to prevent people from considering using opioids.

Trump and first lady Melania Trump, who will attend the event in New Hampshire on Monday, have worked together on the ad campaign, the official said, noting that the issue is "really the only policy issue the two of them have tackled together."

As for the ad campaign, both are coming at it differently, the official said.

"The first lady wants to focus on the well-being of children with ads that lay out you are a somebody, not a statistic, don't start with drugs, and educate them," the official said. "The President is more shock the conscience. He wants to shock people into not using it."

Trump previously proposed an ad campaign to help curb opioid abuse last year.

In addition to the first lady, several members of Trump's Cabinet are expected to attend the New Hampshire event with the President, the official said.

The Trump administration's effort has internally been led by Conway, the President's senior aide, but has also included conversations with a series of other agencies, including the departments of Labor, Housing and Urban Development, and State.

"We call it the 'crisis next door' because everyone knows someone," Conway told reporters Sunday night. "It is no longer somebody else's community, somebody else's kid, somebody else's co-worker. The opioid crisis is viewed by us at the White House as a nonpartisan problem searching for a bipartisan solution."

This story has been updated.</s>MANCHESTER, N.H. (AP) - The Latest on President Donald Trump and opioid drug addiction (all times local):

President Donald Trump says the nation "must get tough" with drug dealers, which includes utilizing the death penalty.

Trump unveiled his plan to combat the nation's deadly opioid addiction in a speech Monday in Manchester, New Hampshire, a state ravaged by the drug.

Trump said "failure is not an option" and vowed that "addiction is not our future."

He vowed to help create "a generation of drug-free children." And he complained that, under the current law, a dealer could sell a drug that could kill hundreds but only receive a short prison sentence.

This is Trump's first visit as president to New Hampshire. His victory there in the 2016 Republican primary helped propel him to the nomination, though he lost the state narrowly in the general election to Hillary Clinton.

Melania Trump says "real progress" is being made in combatting the nation's opioid crisis because of the hard work of doctors and nurses across the country.

She introduced President Donald Trump at an event Monday in Manchester, New Hampshire, where he's outlining more elements of his plan to combat the opioid addiction.

One element of the plan includes applying the federal death penalty to drug traffickers where applicable under current law. Raising education and awareness, and expanding access to proven treatment and recovery efforts.

Mrs. Trump spoke about her visits to hospitals and clinics that help children who were born addicted to opioids.

President Donald Trump has dropped in on New Hampshire firefighters before he gives a speech about the nation's opioid drug crisis.

Trump and his wife, Melania, stopped at fire department headquarters in downtown Manchester on Monday.

Eight firefighters stood in front of a truck emblazoned with "Rescue 1."

Trump told the firefighters he's getting a "big response" in Congress for his three-part plan to end the drug epidemic. The plan focuses on education and raising awareness, law enforcement, and expanding access to proven treatment and recovery efforts. One element includes subjecting drug traffickers to the federal death penalty.

Trump is making his first visit to New Hampshire since becoming president.

President Donald Trump's plan to combat opioid drug addiction calls for stiffer penalties for drug traffickers, including the death penalty where it's appropriate under current law.

Administration officials say Trump also wants Congress to pass legislation reducing the amount of drugs necessary to trigger mandatory minimum sentences on traffickers who knowingly distribute certain illicit opioids.

The president is scheduled to unveil his plan Monday in New Hampshire, a state hard-hit by the crisis. He'll be accompanied by first lady Melania Trump, who has shown an interest in the issue, particularly as it pertains to children.

Trump has mused openly in recent weeks about subjecting drug dealers to the "ultimate penalty."

His three-part plan includes multiple steps to raise awareness, cut the illicit drug flow and expand proven treatment options</s>Scroll down for video; click "External Content" link if you are on a mobile device to view in a mobile browser."

President Donald Trump says the nation "must get tough" with drug dealers, which includes utilizing the death penalty.

Trump unveiled his plan to combat the nation's deadly opioid addiction in a speech Monday in Manchester, New Hampshire, a state ravaged by the drug.

Trump said "failure is not an option" and vowed that "addiction is not our future."

He vowed to help create "a generation of drug-free children." And he complained that, under the current law, a dealer could sell a drug that could kill hundreds but only receive a short prison sentence.

This is Trump's first visit as president to New Hampshire. His victory there in the 2016 Republican primary helped propel him to the nomination, though he lost the state narrowly in the general election to Hillary Clinton.

Melania Trump says "real progress" is being made in combatting the nation's opioid crisis because of the hard work of doctors and nurses across the country.

She introduced President Donald Trump at an event Monday in Manchester, New Hampshire, where he's outlining more elements of his plan to combat the opioid addiction.

One element of the plan includes applying the federal death penalty to drug traffickers where applicable under current law. Raising education and awareness, and expanding access to proven treatment and recovery efforts.

Mrs. Trump spoke about her visits to hospitals and clinics that help children who were born addicted to opioids.

President Donald Trump has dropped in on New Hampshire firefighters before he gives a speech about the nation's opioid drug crisis.

Trump and his wife, Melania, stopped at fire department headquarters in downtown Manchester on Monday.

Eight firefighters stood in front of a truck emblazoned with "Rescue 1."

Trump told the firefighters he's getting a "big response" in Congress for his three-part plan to end the drug epidemic. The plan focuses on education and raising awareness, law enforcement, and expanding access to proven treatment and recovery efforts. One element includes subjecting drug traffickers to the federal death penalty.

Trump is making his first visit to New Hampshire since becoming president.

President Donald Trump's plan to combat opioid drug addiction calls for stiffer penalties for drug traffickers, including the death penalty where appropriate under current law, a top administration official said. It's a fate for drug dealers that Trump has been highlighting publicly in recent weeks.

Trump also wants Congress to pass legislation reducing the amount of drugs needed to trigger mandatory minimum sentences for traffickers who knowingly distribute certain illicit opioids, said Andrew Bremberg, Trump's domestic policy director, who briefed reporters Sunday on the plan Trump is scheduled to unveil Monday in New Hampshire, a state hard-hit by the crisis and that he once referred to as "drug infested."

The president will be joined by first lady Melania Trump, who has shown an interest in the issue as it pertains to children.

Trump drew criticism last year after leaked transcripts of his telephone conversation with Mexico's president showed he had described New Hampshire as a "drug-infested den." The Washington Post published the transcripts.

Death for drug traffickers and mandatory minimum penalties for distributing certain opioids are just two elements under the part of Trump's plan that deals with law enforcement and interdiction to break the international and domestic flow of drugs into and across the U.S.

Other parts of the plan include broadening education and awareness, and expanding access to proven treatment and recovery efforts.

Trump has mused openly in recent weeks about subjecting drug dealers to the "ultimate penalty."

The president told the audience at a Pennsylvania campaign rally this month that countries like Singapore have fewer issues with drug addiction because they harshly punish their dealers. He argued that a person in the U.S. can get the death penalty or life in prison for shooting one person, but that a drug dealer who potentially kills thousands can spend little or no time in jail.

"The only way to solve the drug problem is through toughness," Trump said in Moon Township.

He made similar comments at a recent White House summit on opioids. "Some countries have a very, very tough penalty — the ultimate penalty. And, by the way, they have much less of a drug problem than we do," Trump said. "So we're going to have to be very strong on penalties."

White House officials referred questions about the death penalty and drug traffickers to the Justice Department, which said the federal death penalty is available for several limited drug-related offenses, including violations of the "drug kingpin" provisions in federal law.

Doug Berman, a law professor at Ohio State University, said it was not clear that death sentences for drug dealers, even for those whose product causes multiple deaths, would be constitutional. Berman said the issue would be litigated extensively and would have to be definitively decided by 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 year on record, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Trump has declared that fighting the epidemic is a priority for the administration but critics say the effort has fallen short.

Last October, Trump declared the crisis a national public health emergency, short of the national state of emergency sought by a presidential commission he put together to study the issue.

"We call it the crisis next door because everyone knows someone," said Kellyanne Conway, a Trump senior adviser. "This is no longer somebody else's community, somebody else's kid, somebody else's co-worker."

Other elements of the plan Trump call for a nationwide public awareness campaign, which Trump announced last October, and increased research and development through public-private partnerships between the federal National Institutes of Health and pharmaceutical companies.

Bremberg said the administration also has a plan to cut the number of filled opioid prescriptions by one-third within three years.

The stop in New Hampshire will be Trump's first as president. He won the state's 2016 Republican presidential primary but narrowly lost in the general election to Hillary Clinton. It follows a visit to the state last week by retiring Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., a persistent Trump critic. Flake told New Hampshire Republicans that someone needs to stop Trump — and it could be him if no one else steps up.

Associated Press writer Mark Sherman contributed to this report.</s>Donald Trump has called for stiffer penalties for drug traffickers, including embracing a tactic employed by some of the global strongmen he admires: the death penalty.

"Toughness is the thing that they most fear," the president said as he unveiled a long-awaited plan to combat the national scourge of opioid drug addiction.

He had travelled to New Hampshire, a state ravaged by opioids, which is also an early marker for the re-election campaign he has already announced.

He called for broadening awareness about drug addiction while expanding access to proven treatment and recovery efforts, but the backbone of his plan is to toughen the punishment for those caught trafficking highly addictive drugs.

"This isn't about nice any more," Mr 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."

The president said that if a person in the US can get the death penalty or life in prison for shooting one person, a similar punishment should be given to a drug dealer who potentially kills thousands.

Mr Trump has long spoken approvingly about countries like Singapore that have fewer issues with drug addiction because they harshly punish their dealers.

During a trip to Asia last autumn, he did not publicly rebuke Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte, who authorised extrajudicial killings of his nation's drug dealers.

Outside a local fire station that Mr Trump visited before the speech, someone compared the leaders with a sign that said "Donald J Duterte".

"Drug traffickers kill so many thousands of our citizens every year," Mr Trump said.

"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.

"Other countries don't play games. But the ultimate penalty has to be the death penalty."

The Justice Department said the federal death penalty is available for limited drug-related offences, including violations of the "drug kingpin" provisions in federal law.

It is not clear if the death penalty, even for traffickers whose product causes multiple deaths, would be constitutional.

Doug Berman, a law professor at Ohio State University, predicted the issue would be litigated all the way to the US Supreme Court.

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

Mr Trump has said fighting the problem is a priority for his administration, but critics say the effort has fallen short.

Last October, he said the crisis was a national public health emergency, short of the national state of emergency sought by a presidential commission he put together to study the issue.

He called for a nationwide public awareness campaign, which he announced in October, to scare children away from dabbling in drugs, and said the administration will work to cut the number of opioid prescriptions by one-third within three years.

The president also discussed how his policies, including a US-Mexico border wall and punishing "sanctuary" cities that refuse to comply with federal immigration authorities, would help reduce the flow of drugs and help end the addiction epidemic.</s>Trump calls for death penalty to 'get tough' on drug pushers

MANCHESTER, N.H. (AP) — Unveiling a long-awaited plan to combat the national scourge of opioid drug addiction, President Donald Trump called Monday for stiffer penalties for drug traffickers, including embracing a tactic employed by some of the global strongmen he admires: the death penalty.

"Toughness is the thing that they most fear," Trump said.

The president traveled to New Hampshire, a state ravaged by opioids and which is also an early marker for the re-election campaign he has already announced. The president called for broadening awareness about drug addiction while expanding access to proven treatment and recovery efforts, but the backbone of his plan is to toughen the punishment for those caught trafficking highly addictive drugs.

"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."

The president formalized what he had long mused about publicly and privately: that if a person in the U.S. can get the death penalty or life in prison for shooting one person, a similar punishment should be given to a drug dealer who potentially kills thousands.

Trump has long spoken approvingly about countries like Singapore that have fewer issues with drug addiction because they harshly punish their dealers. During a trip to Asia last fall, he did not publicly rebuke Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte, who authorized extrajudicial killings of his nation's drug dealers.

Outside a local firehouse that Trump visited before the speech, someone compared the leaders with a sign that said: "Donald J. Duterte."

"Drug traffickers kill so many thousands of our citizens every year," Trump said. "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."

He added: "Other countries don't play games. ... But the ultimate penalty has to be the death penalty."

The Justice Department said the federal death penalty is available for limited drug-related offenses, including violations of the "drug kingpin" provisions in federal law.

It is not clear if the death penalty, even for traffickers whose product causes multiple deaths, would be constitutional. Doug Berman, a law professor at Ohio State University, predicted the issue would be litigated all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.

John Blume, a professor and director of Cornell Law School's death penalty program, said the Federal Drug Kingpin Act has yielded few "kingpins" or major dealers, mostly ensnaring mid- to low-level minorities involved in the drug trade.

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.

Trump has declared that fighting the epidemic is a priority for the administration, but critics say the effort has fallen short.

Last October, the president declared the crisis a national public health emergency, short of the national state of emergency sought by a presidential commission he put together to study the issue.

Trump called for a nationwide public awareness campaign, which he announced in October, to scare kids away from dabbling in drugs. He announced a new website, www.crisisnextdoor.gov , where members of the public can share stories about the dangers of opioid addiction.

Trump said the administration will work to cut the number of opioid prescriptions that are filled by one-third within three years.

The president also discussed how his policies, including a U.S.-Mexico border wall and punishing "sanctuary" cities that refuse to comply with federal immigration authorities, would help reduce the flow of drugs and help end the addiction epidemic.

Monday was Trump's first visit as president to New Hampshire, which has long occupied a special place in his political rise. He captured his first Republican presidential primary here in 2016, though he narrowly lost in the general election to Democrat Hillary Clinton.

Trump drew criticism last year after leaked transcripts of a telephone conversation with Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto showed he had described New Hampshire as a "drug-infested den." The Washington Post published the transcripts.

Though the 2020 election is more than 30 months away, early jockeying is already happening in states that play an outsized early role in choosing a party's nominee. Retiring Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., a persistent Trump critic, visited New Hampshire, which holds the nation's first presidential primary, last week. He told Republicans someone needs to stop Trump — and it could be him if no one steps up.

Meanwhile, the president's daughter, White House senior adviser Ivanka Trump, spent Monday discussing infrastructure and workplace development in Iowa, which traditionally holds the first presidential nominating caucus.

Superville reported from Washington. Associated Press writer Mark Sherman in Washington contributed to this report.

Follow Darlene Superville and Jonathan Lemire on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/dsupervilleap and http://www.twitter.com/JonLemire</s>Donald Trump has called for stiffer penalties for drug traffickers, including embracing a tactic employed by some of the global strongmen he admires: the death penalty.

“Toughness is the thing that they most fear,” the president said as he unveiled a long-awaited plan to combat the national scourge of opioid drug addiction.

He had travelled to New Hampshire, a state ravaged by opioids, which is also an early marker for the re-election campaign he has already announced.

He called for broadening awareness about drug addiction while expanding access to proven treatment and recovery efforts, but the backbone of his plan is to toughen the punishment for those caught trafficking highly addictive drugs.

“This isn’t about nice any more,” Mr 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.”

The president said that if a person in the US can get the death penalty or life in prison for shooting one person, a similar punishment should be given to a drug dealer who potentially kills thousands.

Mr Trump has long spoken approvingly about countries like Singapore that have fewer issues with drug addiction because they harshly punish their dealers.

During a trip to Asia last autumn, he did not publicly rebuke Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte, who authorised extrajudicial killings of his nation’s drug dealers.

Outside a local fire station that Mr Trump visited before the speech, someone compared the leaders with a sign that said “Donald J Duterte”.

“Drug traffickers kill so many thousands of our citizens every year,” Mr Trump said.

“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.

“Other countries don’t play games. But the ultimate penalty has to be the death penalty.”

The Justice Department said the federal death penalty is available for limited drug-related offences, including violations of the “drug kingpin” provisions in federal law.

It is not clear if the death penalty, even for traffickers whose product causes multiple deaths, would be constitutional.

Doug Berman, a law professor at Ohio State University, predicted the issue would be litigated all the way to the US Supreme Court.

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

Mr Trump has said fighting the problem is a priority for his administration, but critics say the effort has fallen short.

Last October, he said the crisis was a national public health emergency, short of the national state of emergency sought by a presidential commission he put together to study the issue.

He called for a nationwide public awareness campaign, which he announced in October, to scare children away from dabbling in drugs, and said the administration will work to cut the number of opioid prescriptions by one-third within three years.

The president also discussed how his policies, including a US-Mexico border wall and punishing “sanctuary” cities that refuse to comply with federal immigration authorities, would help reduce the flow of drugs and help end the addiction epidemic.</s>WASHINGTON (AP) – President Donald Trump’s plan to combat opioid drug addiction calls for stiffer penalties for drug traffickers, including the death penalty where it’s appropriate under current law.

Administration officials say Trump also wants Congress to pass legislation reducing the amount of drugs necessary to trigger mandatory minimum sentences on traffickers who knowingly distribute certain illicit opioids.

The president is scheduled to unveil his plan Monday in New Hampshire, a state hard-hit by the crisis. He’ll be accompanied by first lady Melania Trump, who has shown an interest in the issue, particularly as it pertains to children.

Trump has mused openly in recent weeks about subjecting drug dealers to the “ultimate penalty.”

His three-part plan includes multiple steps to raise awareness, cut the illicit drug flow and expand proven treatment options.</s>MANCHESTER, N.H. (AP) — President Donald Trump’s plan to combat opioid drug addiction calls for stiffer penalties for drug traffickers, including the death penalty where appropriate under current law, a top administration official said. It’s a fate for drug dealers that Trump has been highlighting publicly in recent weeks.

Trump also wants Congress to pass legislation reducing the amount of drugs needed to trigger mandatory minimum sentences for traffickers who knowingly distribute certain illicit opioids, said Andrew Bremberg, Trump’s domestic policy director, who briefed reporters Sunday on the plan Trump is scheduled to unveil Monday in New Hampshire, a state hard-hit by the crisis and that he once referred to as “drug infested.”

The president will be joined by first lady Melania Trump, who has shown an interest in the issue as it pertains to children.

Trump drew criticism last year after leaked transcripts of his telephone conversation with Mexico’s president showed he had described New Hampshire as a “drug-infested den.” The Washington Post published the transcripts.

Death for drug traffickers and mandatory minimum penalties for distributing certain opioids are just two elements under the part of Trump’s plan that deals with law enforcement and interdiction to break the international and domestic flow of drugs into and across the U.S.

Other parts of the plan include broadening education and awareness, and expanding access to proven treatment and recovery efforts.

Trump has mused openly in recent weeks about subjecting drug dealers to the “ultimate penalty.”

The president told the audience at a Pennsylvania campaign rally this month that countries like Singapore have fewer issues with drug addiction because they harshly punish their dealers. He argued that a person in the U.S. can get the death penalty or life in prison for shooting one person, but that a drug dealer who potentially kills thousands can spend little or no time in jail.

Paper Says Lamb Win Could Lead To Trump’s Impeachment

“The only way to solve the drug problem is through toughness,” Trump said in Moon Township.

He made similar comments at a recent White House summit on opioids. “Some countries have a very, very tough penalty — the ultimate penalty. And, by the way, they have much less of a drug problem than we do,” Trump said. “So we’re going to have to be very strong on penalties.”

White House officials referred questions about the death penalty and drug traffickers to the Justice Department, which said the federal death penalty is available for several limited drug-related offenses, including violations of the “drug kingpin” provisions in federal law.

Doug Berman, a law professor at Ohio State University, said it was not clear that death sentences for drug dealers, even for those whose product causes multiple deaths, would be constitutional. Berman said the issue would be litigated extensively and would have to be definitively decided by 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 year on record, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Trump has declared that fighting the epidemic is a priority for the administration but critics say the effort has fallen short.

Tillerson Doesn’t Thank Trump During Speech After Being Ousted As Secretary Of State

Last October, Trump declared the crisis a national public health emergency, short of the national state of emergency sought by a presidential commission he put together to study the issue.

“We call it the crisis next door because everyone knows someone,” said Kellyanne Conway, a Trump senior adviser. “This is no longer somebody else’s community, somebody else’s kid, somebody else’s co-worker.”

Trump will also discuss how his plans for a U.S.-Mexico border wall and punishing “sanctuary” cities that refuse to cooperate with federal immigration authorities will help combat the opioid crisis, Conway told reporters traveling with the president.

Other elements of the plan Trump call for a nationwide public awareness campaign, which Trump announced last October, and increased research and development through public-private partnerships between the federal National Institutes of Health and pharmaceutical companies.

Bremberg said the administration also has a plan to cut the number of filled opioid prescriptions by one-third within three years.

The stop in New Hampshire will be Trump’s first as president. He won the state’s 2016 Republican presidential primary but narrowly lost in the general election to Hillary Clinton. It follows a visit to the state last week by retiring Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., a persistent Trump critic. Flake told New Hampshire Republicans that someone needs to stop Trump — and it could be him if no one else steps up.

© Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.</s>President Donald Trump’s plan to combat opioid drug addiction nationwide calls for stiffer penalties for drug traffickers, including the death penalty where appropriate under current law, a top administration official said Sunday. It’s a fate for drug dealers that Trump, who aims to be seen as tough on crime, has been highlighting publicly in recent weeks.

Trump also wants Congress to pass legislation reducing the amount of drugs needed to trigger mandatory minimum sentences for traffickers who knowingly distribute certain illicit opioids, said Andrew Bremberg, Trump’s domestic policy director, who briefed reporters Sunday on the plan Trump is scheduled to unveil today in New Hampshire, a state hard-hit by the crisis.

Death for drug traffickers and mandatory minimum penalties for distributing certain opioids are two elements under the part of Trump’s plan that deals with law enforcement and interdiction to break the international and domestic flow of drugs into and across the U.S.

Other parts include broadening education and awareness, and expanding access to proven treatment and recovery efforts.
U.S. President Donald Trump unveils his plan to combat the United States's opioid epidemic which includes harsher penalties for drug traffickers, including the death penalty.