Matt: What’s up everybody? This is Matt and Greg with Project Unbroken. And today, we’re kind of looking around. We always try to keep up with what’s going on with the kind of opioid epidemic, what’s going on with the news going on around it. We saw a pretty sensational one today, and it says that Trump suggests death penalty to stop opioid epidemic. And it was interesting. I’ll give you a quote from President Trump. “We have pushers and drug dealers. They are killing hundreds and hundreds of people. If you shoot one person, they give you life, they give you the death penalty. These people”, referring to the drug dealers, “can kill two to three thousand people and nothing happens to them.” Good point.
Greg: It’s a good point.
Matt: I’m not sure I know that penalties for drug offenses are all over the board across the US.
Greg: Yeah.
Matt: I know he was referring to some other countries. I’m pretty sure he was talking about the Philippines that have really strict capital punishment basically, death penalty, for people that are selling drugs. And in some cases, even if you caught with any drugs, which I think is crazy. But he was saying that their drug abuse rates are much lower than ours are.
Greg: I imagine.
Matt: What do you think? Drug dealer … because you can do some damage, especially with fentanyl and carfentanil out there as a cutting agent. You’re putting … you’re knowingly killing people.
Greg: Yes. It’s true. Well, I mean I guess it also comes down to do you agree with the death penalty? That’s a big thing. But, no doubt about it. At least make the penalties stiffer. If you get caught, you are fucking going to jail for the rest of your life, at least. I guess you got to kind of debate the whole death penalty thing because, do we have the right to kill someone that’s, you know, is that what everyone thinks? Or, then you have people who say, “Well if they go to jail, it’s our tax dollars.”
Matt: Tax dollars, yeah.
Greg: But then my thinking also, and I understand both sides, is that killing them is almost like letting them get off. You’re just kind of ending the misery. That’s the way I look at it at least. If they’re in jail, they’re suffering. Maybe they should suffer for what they did. So, I guess there’s a lot of different ways to look at the whole death penalty thing, but definitely stiffer penalties. You got to have stiffer penalties in place in my opinion.
Matt: Yeah, I agree. I think it’s easy to say like yeah the death penalty’s appropriate but I know I wouldn’t be able to probably flip that switch on most people.
Greg: Yeah.
Matt: I don’t know. That’s definitely a tough spot. But I agree with you 100%.
Greg: So, I’m looking in the eyes of a drug dealer. They’re like, “If I get caught”, maybe let’s just say on average, it depends on how much you get caught with and all that stuff but, “I get caught, I do three to five years. I can handle that.”
Matt: It’s worth the risk. These guys are making boatloads of money.
Greg: Compared to, “If I get caught, I’m doing the rest of my life in prison. Like I get one chance. If I get caught, that’s it.” I think a lot of drug dealers are like, “I got a couple chances, I got a couple strikes.”
Matt: I can do three to five.
Greg: That’s all right for me. So, I think you cut that out, yeah. Depending what the penalty is, I don’t think that’s as important. I think it’s just making it stiffer penalties.
Matt: Yeah.
Greg: Would do a lot.
Matt: Yeah. And I mean, that’s also a tough argument because right now we’re seeing, in our country, there’s a lot of people that have been in jail for decades over marijuana stuff.
Greg: Yeah.
Matt: Then you look at that, you’re like, “Christ, that’s a little aggressive.” But, marijuana’s never-
Greg: It’s a little different.
Matt: Never killed anybody.
Greg: Exactly.
Matt: Marijuana’s never killed anybody.
Greg: Most people would think marijuana kills people.
Matt: Yeah, I guess we’ll say if-
Greg: It’s not as comparable.
Matt: If two people are sitting in a room, one person has as much marijuana as they wanted, and this person has as much heroin as they wanted, no outside influences, the death rate with the heroin’s going to be unbelievable.
Greg: Way, way higher.
Matt: Yeah.
Greg: So, that’s my opinion on it.
Matt: Yeah, just interesting news article to … I mean I know President Trump’s always saying some pretty sensational stuff.
Greg: Crazy shit.
Matt: Yeah. But it may raise a good point, and if anything, I think Greg’s right. Those penalties, it at least needs to make people think twice before they’re putting that stuff out on the street.
Greg: Definitely.
Cool, let us know what you think, guys. Comment below. Give us your opinion, and we’ll see you on the next video. Make sure you subscribe.
Matt: See you guys.
