Donald Trump said that the death penalty for drug dealers and human traffickers is “very humane” during a speech in Youngstown, Ohio.
Speaking on Saturday, the former president said that “much of the crime wave is caused by drug dealers who during the course of their lives, will kill an average of 500 American citizens not to mention the destruction of millions of American families who are so devastated by drugs”.
“It's an invasion of crime,” he added. “And remember much of the crime that we talk about is caused by drugs. And I'm calling for the death penalty for drug dealers and human traffickers.”
The suggestion was met with cheers from the crowd.
Mr Trump claimed that the new policy would “reduce drug distribution and crime in our country by much more than 75 per cent. That's in one day”.
“Every place that has a real death penalty ... they don't have any people dying of drugs. I mean, literally nobody, because these drug dealers are smart,” he said. “They say ‘you know what, if I want to keep doing drugs, if I'm going to continue to sell them, I'm not doing them in China. I'll go someplace else like how about the United States of America where nothing happens?’”
“We would reduce crime in our country by much more than 75 per cent in one hour. In one hour, the day it's passed, it's got to be meaningful, but you would reduce it in one hour,” he claimed. “I say it because it's very hard. Nobody ever talks this way. Nobody talks about the death penalty. It's a horrible thing to say. Even for me, it's a horrible thing.”
“I said they kill 500 people. So the death penalty is very humane if you look at it, and they destroy families long beyond the 500 people. So no more blue ribbon committees telling us what to do. We want the death penalty for drug dealers and for human traffickers if you don't mind,” he added.
The Independent reported earlier this week how Mr Trump helped release people convicted of drug crimes – the people that he now wants dead.
Experts and those who were helped by the former president warned The Independent about the dangers of Mr Trump’s rhetoric surrounding the issue.
