On Thursday, US President Donald Trump praised the effectiveness of the death penalty for drug traffickers, noting that countries that resort to this measure provide tangible benefits.
"Drug traffickers are really doing a lot of damage," Trump said during a rally on the opioid crisis, which continues to cost thousands of lives each year in the United States. "Some countries impose a very, very harsh sentence, the end of the sentence (…) and, incidentally, have far fewer drug problems than we do," he continued.
The US president has in the past praised his Filipino counterpart, Rodrigo Duterte, a highly controversial politician for his "war on drugs", which human rights groups have denounced.
"We need power against drug traffickers (…). "We have to be very strict in the punishments that are imposed," Trump said. "If you kill someone, you are sentenced to life, you are sentenced to death. "These guys can kill 2.000, 3.000 people, and nothing happens to them."
