US President Donald Trump's plan to combat opioid drug addiction calls for tougher penalties for drug traffickers, including the death penalty where it's "appropriate" under current law, despite opponents saying the US can't "execute its way" out of the drug crisis.
The White House plan will also seek to cut opioid prescriptions by a third over the next three years by promoting practices that reduce overprescription of opioids in federal healthcare programs, officials told a news briefing.
They said Mr Trump also wants Congress to pass legislation reducing the amount of drugs necessary to trigger mandatory minimum sentences on traffickers who knowingly distribute certain illicit opioids.
"The Department of Justice will seek the death penalty against drug traffickers when it's appropriate under current law," said Andrew Bremberg, director of Mr Trump's Domestic Policy Council, in the briefing detailing the plan.
The president is scheduled to unveil his plan on Monday in New Hampshire, a state hard-hit by the crisis. He'll be accompanied by first lady Melania Trump.
Emergency room visits for overdoses from drugs like heroin, fentanyl and prescription painkillers were up 30 percent from 2016 to 2017. Source: AAP
Mr Trump has previously mooted the "ultimate" punishment for drug dealers, and is said to have spoken in glowing terms about the policies of deeply controversial Filipino leader Rodrigo Duterte, who has ordered extra-judicial killings of traffickers.
"If you shoot one person, they give you life, they give you the death penalty. These people [who sell drugs] can kill 2,000, 3,000 people and nothing happens to them," he said.
An estimated 2.4 million Americans are addicted to opiates, the narcotics that include prescription painkillers, as well as heroin.
Nationwide, emergency room visits for overdoses from drugs like heroin, fentanyl and prescription painkillers up 30 per cent from 2016 to 2017, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said earlier this month.
The report found that from July 2016 to September 2017, a total of 142,557 emergency room visits were due to suspected opioid overdoses.
'Extreme proposal'
Many opposition Democrats oppose the idea of executing drug dealers, and changing the law would require an act of Congress.
"We will not incarcerate or execute our way out of the opioid epidemic," said Democratic senator Ed Markey last week.
"Extreme proposals like using the death penalty only perpetuate a harmful stigma associated with opioid use disorders and divert attention from meaningful conversations and progress on expanding access to treatment, recovery, and other public health initiatives," he said.
The White House did not offer any specific examples of when it would be appropriate to seek the death penalty for drug dealers and referred further questions to the Justice Department.
Mr Trump's three-part plan includes multiple steps to raise awareness, cut the illicit drug flow and expand proven treatment options.
