Just under six months ago during a panel discussion in Washington D.C., United States President Donald Trump stated that "Drug dealers murder thousands of people over the course of their lives through drugs. So, we’re going to have to get much, much unfortunate in terms of penalty”.
In 2017, over 70,000 people died a drug related death in the United States. These dealers that have access to large quantities of drugs are capable of enabling thousands of people to continue using drugs. So, should drug dealers and traffickers be subject to such punishment?
Only legal in 30 of 50 states, the death penalty has been a major source of stigma, even when it applies to the most severe crimes known to man. There can be arguments made for and against enforcing the death penalty on drug traffickers, but we need to look at the bigger issue at hand. Will this help slow, let alone stop the drug crisis that currently holds 'the land of the free' choke hold? Quite frankly, the answer is no.
There are a host of reasons why enforcing the death penalty when drug dealers are caught with large quantities of drugs and there is no true evidence that a more severe punishment would do anything to deter the selling or use of drugs in the United States. As Dana White for Vox stated, "The deterrent effect of being sentenced to death, as opposed to a long prison sentence, is either so small it hasn’t yet been captured in the research or it’s totally nonexistent. And in the meantime, the death penalty as currently practiced in the US is anything but swift and certain."
The average time an inmate spends on death row is 15 years and in the meantime, lawyers attempt everything within their power to strike down the case, leading to several years of litigation. Instead of trying to combat opioid deaths by killing more people related to the incident, more resources should be put into helping those who are addicted to drugs to overcome their addiction. Yes, it is easier said than done, but trying to help a larger population suffering from addiction seems far more productive and realistic than trying to pin down and successfully sentence these drug dealers to death, not to mention that one-third of drug dealers sell to supply their own addiction.
Another argument to be made is that these drug dealers are not directly killing those that they sell drugs to. The users typically understand that the drug they are taking is detrimental to their overall health and can eventually lead to death, especially when taken in higher doses. The fact that a drug related death is so difficult to directly trace to an individual only worsens the idea of the death penalty being an acceptable punishment.
An eye for an eye leaves the entire world blind. By sentencing these high profile drug dealers to death, we are only taking more life, while ignoring the larger problem of addiction. These offenders should suffer severe consequences, but to sentence them to death is simply unjust.
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