Although the U.S. Department of Justice recently announced plans to go for drug offenders’ jugulars, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein says the federal government’s new plan of attack is not intended to provide a second wind to the drug war. Instead, he insists the goal of the DOJ’s latest initiative is to simply take down the most violent offenders and other undesirables associated with the black market of illicit substances.
“We’re not about filling prisons,” Rosenstein said in an interview with The Associated Press. “The mission is to reduce violent crime and drug abuse, and this helps us do that.”
It was just weeks ago that U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions issued a memo asking federal prosecutors to seek maximum sentences for drug-related offenses. This updated policy goes against the grain of an Obama-era memo, which urged prosecutors to take it easier on non-violent drug offenders.
Rosenstein, who was part of the more lenient approach spearheaded by former Attorney General Eric Holder, says a stricter policy is now needed because the violence associated with organized drug rings has become a more serious problem in the United…