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TRUMP CALLS FOR DEATH
PENALTY FOR DRUG DEALERS
US PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP has said that his
Department of Justice intends to seek the death penalty
against drug traffickers ‘where appropriate under current
law’. The announcement was one of a range of measures
set out as part of his latest initiative to attempt to tackle
the country’s ever-worsening opioid crisis.
The initiative would address the factors fuelling the
crisis, he said, including ‘insufficient access to evidence-
based treatment’ as well as both the supply of illicit drugs
and over-prescription by medical professionals. The
number of opioid overdoses in the US has quadrupled
since 1999, as has the level of opioid prescribing (DDN,
September 2017, page 5). Trump pledged to launch a
‘nationwide evidence-based campaign’ to raise public
awareness of the dangers of prescription and illicit opioid
use, and to implement a ‘safer prescribing plan’ to cut
opioid prescriptions by a third within three years.
He would also ‘crack down on international and
domestic drug supply chains devastating American
communities’, he said. Alongside the possible death
penalty for drug dealers this would include further
securing ports and land borders, shutting down illicit
online opioid sales and strengthening penalties for
selling fentanyl and other substances that are ‘lethal in
trace amounts’. The initiative would also work to ensure
that ‘first responders are supplied with naloxone’,
however, and increase access to evidence-based
treatment ‘as an alternative to, or in conjunction with,
incarceration’ for people in the criminal justice system.
‘We will work to strengthen vulnerable families and
communities, and we will help to build and grow a
stronger, healthier, and drug-free society,’ he said.
The US-based Drug Policy Alliance said that while
measures such as improving treatment provision and
rolling out naloxone would be helpful if there was a
focus on putting the latter ‘in the hands of individuals
and community groups’, the president had ‘done little to
offer a public health response’ to the situation.
TESTING TIMES
DRUG SAFETY TESTING SERVICES should be
available to the public in ‘nightlife districts’,
according to a report from The Loop,
Volteface, the APPG for drug policy reform and
Durham University. Venue staff should also be
trained how to respond effectively to drug
use, says Night lives: reducing drug-related
harms in the night time economy. ‘Clubs risk
closure if there is a drug-related death but
they also risk closure if they attempt to
introduce harm reduction measures,’ said co-
author Fiona Measham. ‘By contrast, UK festivals have
been introducing evidence-based and effective measures
to address the growing drug-related problems faced in
the UK, including hospitalisations, deaths and
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‘Rather than helping people at risk of overdose and
their families, Trump is cynically using the overdose crisis
to appeal to the worst instincts of his base, and pushing
for measures that will only make the crisis worse,’ said
executive director Maria McFarland Sánchez-Moreno. ‘If
this administration wants to save lives, it needs to drop its
obsession with
killing and locking
people up, and
instead focus
resources on what
works: harm
reduction strategies
and access to
evidence-based
treatment and
prevention.’
Meanwhile, visits
to US emergency
departments for
suspected opioid
overdoses increased
by 30 per cent in the
year to September
2017, according to
the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The Midwest saw
the largest increases, with Wisconsin recording a 109 per
cent rise. ‘Long before we receive data from death
certificates, emergency department data can point to
alarming increases in opioid overdoses,’ said CDC acting
director Anne Schuchat. ‘This fast-moving epidemic
affects both men and women, and people of every age. It
does not respect state or county lines and is still
increasing in every region in the United States.’
Opioid initiative briefing at www.whitehouse.gov
Vital signs: opioid overdoses treated in emergency
departments at www.cdc.gov
Trump pledged
to launch a
‘nationwide
evidence-based
campaign’ and
to implement
a ‘safer
prescribing
plan’
drug safety testing
services should be
available to the
public in ‘nightlife
districts’
ProFeSSor FionA meAShAm
contaminated supply chains. Drawing on festival drug
policy and practice, this report makes key
recommendations to bolster our night time economy and
to protect the customers and venues within them.’
Document at volteface.me
BLEAK VIEW
SIX OF THE TEN local authority areas with the
highest rates of heroin and/or morphine
deaths are seaside towns, according to a new
ONS dataset. Blackpool, Bournemouth,
Portsmouth, Hastings, Thanet and Swansea
are all coastal resorts, and some ‘also have
high levels of deprivation, which could link to
increased drug use’, it adds. ‘Places that may
have been more synonymous with family
holidays are among the ten areas that saw
the highest rates of drugs misuse fatalities
where heroin and/or morphine were
mentioned on the death certificate.’
Figures at www.ons.gov.uk
OUT OF COURT
THE PHILIPPINES has given notice that it is
withdrawing as a state party to the Rome
Statute of the International Criminal Court
(ICC). The ICC recently announced that it was
opening a preliminary investigation into
extra-judicial killings as part of President
Duterte’s ‘war on drugs’ (DDN, March, page
5), which is now thought to have cost around
8,000 lives. Duterte had previously
announced, ‘I can face the ICC – if they want
to indict me and convict me, fine. I will
gladly do it for my country.’
SCOT SHIFT?
LEADING MEMBERS of the Scottish
Government have discussed a potential shift in
policy ahead of the country’s new drug
strategy, which is due to be published in the
summer. The government aimed to ‘change
the provision of treatment and support for
those who are most at risk’, said Public Health
Minister Aileen Campbell, which meant ‘taking
forward evidence-led measures even if they
Minister Nicola Sturgeon called for cross-party
collaboration to implement ‘bold and new’
initiatives to tackle drug-related deaths. ‘We
should try and come together and be prepared
to sometimes do things that may be contro -
versial and may, in some areas, be unpopular,’
said Sturgeon. ‘But where there is an evidence
base for them we should have the courage to
do them.’
Scotland’s drug-related death rate is now
twice that of a decade ago and the highest in
the EU (DDN, September 2017, page 4).
Meanwhile the number of benzodiazepines
seized in Scotland has almost doubled in a
year, from just under 1.3m in 2015-16 to nearly
2.2m in 2016-17, according to new figures.
Drug seizures and offender characteristics,
2016-17 at www.gov.scot
April 2018 | drinkanddrugsnews | 5