At a time when drug overdose deaths in the U.S. are increasing at alarming rates, the Obama administration has slashed prosecutions and prison sentences for drug traffickers.
That’s the clear picture laid out by Alabama Sen. [crscore]Jeff Sessions[/crscore], who released a couple of graphs on Friday that show a stark inverse relationship between drug overdose deaths and punishment for drug traffickers in recent years.
From the office of Sen. Jeff Sessions
Sessions, a Republican and former U.S. Attorney, cites statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention showing that drug overdose deaths in the U.S. have climbed 29 percent since President Obama took office and 137 percent since 2000. From 2013 to 2014, drug overdose deaths increased by 6.5 percent, reaching a total of 47,055.
Most of the spike in drug overdose deaths has involved some type of opioid, including heroin.
According to the CDC, in 2014, 61 percent of drug overdose deaths involved opioids. The overdose death rate increased 14 percent from 2013 to 2014. For heroin, overdose death rates increased 26 percent in that time period.
As drug overdose deaths have increased, federal prosecutions of drug traffickers have fallen 21 percent since 2011. And when traffickers are prosecuted, they are receiving lighter sentences. The average sentence for a federal drug offense has decreased 19 percent since Obama took office.
From the office of Sen. Jeff Sessions
Sessions is not suggesting that Obama’s leniency is the only cause of the spike in overdose deaths. It is likely not the case that prisoners who are released early are contributing in a significant way to the number of drug overdose deaths. But he does question whether the administration’s stance will exacerbate the problem.
Sessions asserts that the Obama administration’s retroactive changes to sentencing guidelines will result in more than 30,000 additional convicted drug traffickers being released early from federal prison.
“While there are a number of causes for this tragic trend in overdoses, prosecuting fewer dangerous drug traffickers and giving lighter sentences to those who are prosecuted would exacerbate, not alleviate, this crisis,” a Sessions aide told The Daily Caller. “Yet that is exactly what the president has done and too many in Congress are trying to do. Going any further down this road would only lead to further ruin for far too many.”
Democrats and Republicans alike are pushing for federal prison sentencing reform. One Republican leading the push is House Speaker Paul Ryan.
In furtherance of its initiative, the White House commuted sentences for 61 convicted drug traffickers earlier this week. The move is a continuation of a Department of Justice initiative announced in April 2014. Under it, the DOJ pledged to expedite clemency applications for federal prisoners who are low-level offenders without significant ties to gangs or cartels, inmates who do not have a significant criminal history, those who have no history of violence, and non-violent individuals who would not pose a threat to public safety if released.
But 13 out of the 61 granted commuted sentences earlier this week were convicted of firearm-related offenses in addition to drug trafficking crimes.
In a letter to Attorney General Loretta Lynch, Alabama Sen. [crscore]Richard Shelby[/crscore] pointed out that seven of the 61 were convicted of possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime. Four were convicted of firearm possession by a felon, and two were convicted of using a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking offense.