Pubdate: Fri, 09 Mar 2018
Source: Boston Globe (MA)
Copyright: 2018 Globe Newspaper Company
Contact: http://services.bostonglobe.com/news/opeds/letter.aspx?id=6340
Website: http://bostonglobe.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/52
Authors: Katie Zezima And Josh Dawsey

TRUMP OFFICIALS STUDY DEATH PENALTY FOR DRUG DEALERS IN OPIOID
EPIDEMIC

WASHINGTON - The Trump administration is studying new policy that
could allow prosecutors to seek the death penalty for drug dealers,
according to people with knowledge of the discussions, a sign that the
White House wants to make a strong statement in addressing the opioid
crisis.

President Donald Trump last week suggested executing drug dealers as a
way to make a dent in opioid addiction. Opioids killed nearly 64,000
people in 2016, and the crisis is straining local health and emergency
services.

People familiar with the discussions said that the president's
Domestic Policy Council and the Department of Justice are studying
potential policy changes and that a final announcement could come
within weeks. The White House has said one approach it might take is
to make trafficking large quantities of fentanyl - a powerful
synthetic opioid - a capital crime because even small amounts of the
drug can be fatal. White House officials also are studying tougher
noncapital penalties for large-scale dealers.

Trump said last week that the administration would soon roll out
unspecified "strong" policies on opioids. White House officials said
Trump has privately expressed interest in Singapore's policy of
executing drug dealers.

"Some countries have a very tough penalty, the ultimate penalty, and
they have much less of a drug problem than we do," Trump said during
an appearance at a White House summit on opioids last week.

Trump also has endorsed Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte's
approach to the issue; Duterte's "drug war" has led to the deaths of
thousands of people by extrajudicial police killings. Last year, Trump
praised Duterte in a phone call for doing an "unbelievable job on the
drug problem," according to the New York Times.

Kellyanne Conway, counselor to the president, is leading much of the
work on opioids for the White House. Singaporean representatives have
briefed senior White House officials on their country's drug policies,
which include treatment and education, but also the death penalty, and
they provided a PowerPoint presentation on that country's laws.

Singapore's model is more in line with the administration's goals for
drug policy than some other countries, a senior administration
official said.

"That is seen as the holistic approach that approximates what this
White House is trying to do," a senior administration official said.

The Department of Justice declined to comment on the policy
discussion. A White House spokesman did not respond to a request for
comment Friday.

Federal law currently allows for the death penalty to be applied in four 
types of drug-related cases, according to the Death Penalty Information 
Center: murder committed during a drug-related drive-by shooting, murder 
committed with the use of a firearm during a drug trafficking crime, 
murder related to drug trafficking and the death of a law enforcement 
officer that relates to drugs.

Peter Meyers, a professor at the George Washington University School
of Law, said he doesn't agree with the idea of adding more capital
crimes for drug dealers, but he said it could be a legal approach:
"It very likely would be constitutional if they want to do it."

The administration's directives come as prosecutors nationwide are
cracking down on higher-level drug dealers and law enforcement
officials are looking at increased penalties for fentanyl trafficking
and dealing. But at the same time, public health officials - including
those in the Trump administration - and many in law enforcement are
emphasizing treatment rather than punitive measures for low-level
users and those addicted to drugs.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions has directed federal prosecutors to
pursue the most severe penalties for drug offenses. The Department of
Justice said last year it will aggressively prosecute traffickers of
any fentanyl-related substance.

Some argue executing drug dealers could have a raft of unintended
consequences, such as deterring people from calling police when they
know someone is overdosing.

While news of capital charges against a drug dealer would spread
quickly and possibly be a deterrent, said Daniel Ciccarone, a
professor of family and community medicine at the University of
California at San Francisco, it could also drive drug users
underground.

"It will keep people from any positive interface with police, any
positive interface with public health, any interface with doctors,"
he said, noting that it could lead to fewer people receiving treatment
for their addictions. "People will become afraid and hide. They won't
trust the police, and they won't trust the doctor either."

Ciccarone said there is also concern that the laws could ensnare
low-level drug dealers, many of whom do not know that their products
contain lethal amounts of opioids and some of whom are battling addiction.

"We're not talking El Chapo-level people," he said, referring to
Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, the former leader of the Sinaloa cartel
who was extradited to the United States last year. U.S. officials had
to assure their Mexican counterparts that Guzman would not face the
death penalty as part of extradition negotiations.

"The closer you get to the ground, the closer you get to people who
are easy to capture and the more unknown the fentanyl issue is,"
Ciccarone said. "I don't believe that expanding the drug penalty
further for other trafficking offenses is going to solve the opioid
epidemic," she said.

Regina LaBelle, deputy chief of staff at the Office of National Drug
Control Policy in the Obama administration, said that current laws
that allow for drug dealers to be charged with a capital offense
haven't had a deterrent effect.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Matt