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Good, Bad and Ugly in Trump’s Drug Plan, Corbyn Parrots Russian Talking Points

The president proposes common-sense drug reforms — and the death penalty for drug dealers.

Politico reports that Donald Trump is eying common-sense drug reforms — as well as the death penalty for drug dealers.

Here is the good, bad and ugly in the president’s plan to fight America’s opioid epidemic.

The good:

  • Making it easier for drug addicts to get treatment under Medicaid.
  • Raising standards for painkillers that are reimbursed by federal programs.
  • Expanding the availability of naloxone, a life-saving anti-overdose drug.
  • Screening inmates for opioid use on their arrival in prison.

The bad:

  • Making it easier for prosecutors to invoke mandatory minimum sentences for drug traffickers.

The ugly:

  • Introducing the death penalty for dealers who sell lethal drugs.

Tough-on-drugs policies like these have only made America’s opioid crisis worse.

There is little evidence criminals are deterred by high minimum sentences.

If anything, they may have encouraged the spread of fentanyl, a drug that is highly potent in small doses. Under current law, it can be sold without triggering mandatory minimums.

Gibraltar willing to share airport

Gibraltar is prepared to share its airport with Spain, reports Bloomberg.

The concession could smooth the way for a Brexit deal. The rest of the EU has given Spain a specific veto over one.

In addition to joint management of Gibraltar’s airport, Madrid has demanded closer cooperation to tackle tax fraud and tobacco smuggling.

The Spanish government has promised not abuse its position to push for restored sovereignty over the peninsula, which it ceded to the United Kingdom in 1713.

Corbyn parrots Russian talking points

British Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn continues sowing doubts about Russia’s culpability in the poisoning of its former spy, Sergei Skripal, in Salisbury two weeks ago, writing in The Guardian newspaper:

Flawed intelligence and dodgy dossiers led to the calamity of the Iraq invasion. There was overwhelming bipartisan support for attacking Libya, but it proved to be wrong.

Which is exactly what RT and Sputnik are saying.

Call for stronger action

Max Boot calls for stronger action in The Washington Post, arguing that Vladimir Putin must be made to realize he cannot win his undeclared war on the West:

Putin and his cronies have billions of dollars stashed in the West. London is a particular favorite of Russian exiles. Freeze the money. Seize the properties. Hurt them where it counts. The United States can also designate Russia a state sponsor of terrorism […] Stop treating Russia like a legitimate state: Putin has already been kicked out of the Group of 8 gatherings; he can be removed from the G-20, too. Kick Russia out of the SWIFT system, denying Russian banks access to international monetary transfers. Invoke NATO’s Article 5 collective-defense clause.