WASHINGTON, D.C. – Convicted drug dealers could face the ultimate punishment if convicted by the federal government, which is now set to come down hard on those offenders, it was announced this week.
Attorney General Jeff Sessions described plans now in motion by federal prosecutors to battle the crushing opioid epidemic by using the most-lethal form of punishment available to them: the death penalty.
In a speech Thursday, Sessions said, “the President has ordered us to seek the death penalty in drug trafficking cases where it is appropriate to do so. And just yesterday we began implementing this order at the Department. The death penalty is available for drug dealers under Florida state law, and at the federal level it is available under certain circumstances of the kingpin statute. The people’s representatives have voted for these laws because they intend for us to use them.”
His remarks came days after President Donald Trump told a crowd that the death penalty will be used to “get tough on the drug dealers … or we are wasting our time” in the battle against those crimes and opioid addiction.
Sessions claimed that “drug traffickers show no respect for human dignity … as surely as night follows day, violence and death follow drug trafficking.”
The Justice Department plans to be “aggressive … we will prosecute the most serious, readily-provable offense we can.”
“We cannot allow drug dealers to walk our streets thinking that they will get away with their crimes or that they will only get a slap on the wrist,” Sessions continued. “They need to know that this administration will not hesitate to pursue the maximum sentences allowed by law, including the death penalty.”
