While revealing his new plan to combat the USA’s problem with opioid drug addiction, Donald Trump has advocated for harsher penalties for those caught trafficking drugs. One of these penalties was the death penalty, a tactic used by several global leaders wishing to crackdown on drug use in their own countries.

Donald Trump said that tougher laws were what drug traffickers “most fear”. At the Manchester, New Hampshire event, President Trump spoke directly to a state with a fierce opioid addiction problem. He advocated for a larger awareness about drug addiction problems and wanted to expand access to proven recovery and treatment options.

Despite these sentiments, the main focus of his plan was the enhancement of punishments for drug traffickers, especially for those transporting highly addictive drugs like methamphetamine.

Mr Trump said his plan was about “winning” what he called a “very tough problem”. He went on to say that if laws were not made tougher he then the US would not win the battle against drugs.

Donald Trump’s reasoning for the death penalty for drug traffickers is couched in simplicity. He has stated for a long time that if an American can get the death penalty for murder, then those who deal drugs should receive the death penalty for the indirect murder of thousands of drugs users.

President Trump has given praise to nations like Singapore which have extremely harsh penalties for drug dealers. In a 2016 trip to Asia Trump did not criticise his Philippines counterpart for the extrajudicial executions of drug dealers in that nation.

Trump revealed that he was working alongside the US Congress to source 6 billion USD in new resources to fight the opioid problem in America. Trump said that drug dealers “kill so many thousands” of US citizens each year.

Trump strongly advocated the death penalty for persons he called “big pushers” who he believes are responsible for the deaths of thousands in the US. He was quoted as saying that other nations “don’t play games” and the most appropriate penalty was death.

Opioid drugs did in fact kill 42,000 US citizens in 2016, which was more than any other year on record. Many people blame drug dealers for the deaths while others cite poor resources for drug addiction and socio-economic issues as the culprit.

It is unclear if a death penalty for drug traffickers would be legal under the US constitution. Some have predicted that the issue will be debated all the way to the US Supreme Court.