Former President Donald Trump recently said he would use military assets to combat the fentanyl crisis and “inflict maximum damage” on drug cartels if elected in 2024, seeking the death penalty for convicted drug dealers and human traffickers.
Trump pledges to battle drug cartels, combat fentanyl crisis if re-elected in 2024https://t.co/KdYkl5vpmZ
— Team Trump (Text TRUMP to 88022) (@TeamTrump) June 1, 2023
“For three decades before my election, drug overdose deaths increased every single year. Under my leadership, we took the drug and fentanyl crisis head on, and we achieved the first reduction in overdose deaths in more than 30 years,” Trump said in a new campaign video.
“Sadly, under Joe Biden, our hard-won progress has been surrendered, along with the surrender of our southern border — such a shame,” Trump said. “Now, fentanyl and other ultra-deadly poisons are pouring into our country unchecked — stealing more than 100,000 American lives every single year.”
Trump criticized President Joe Biden, noting that his record is “one of death, destruction and misery in communities across our nation.”
“When I am back in the White House, I will take action on day one to end this horrific plague and save American lives,” he said. “Joe Biden will never solve the drug overdose crisis because he is actively destroying our border.”
Trump said he would use a naval embargo and deploy military assets on all cartel operations. The former president insisted on the “full cooperation” of neighboring governments to “dismantle” trafficking networks in the region.
He added that he would direct U.S. federal law enforcement to demolish gangs and organized street crime groups that distribute deadly drugs locally.
Trump also vowed to designate fentanyl as a federally controlled substance and warned that China would “pay a steep price” if it does not fight against the exportation of fentanyl.
“I had a deal worked out with President Xi,” Trump said. “They weren’t going to be sending any more, and they were going to impose the death penalty on those that made it in China.”
A part of Trump’s plan also includes expanding faith-based counseling and recovery programs for drug users.
“We are going to need God’s help to steer our country out of the crisis,” Trump said.
A separate part of Trump’s proposal would allow any parent, child, spouse, or relative who needs to care for a family member struggling with addiction to “take advantage” of a family leave program.
“When I am president, we will not rest until we have ended the drug addiction crisis in America,” he said. “We will win. It will happen. We have to win, though, in 2024, because our country is going to hell.”
