DEATH PENALTY URGED FOR DRUG DEALERS

BARRE - Mayor Thomas Lauzon says Vermont is losing the war on drugs,
and that the solutions are to legalize marijuana and impose the death
penalty on dealers of crack cocaine and heroin.

"I'm sure everyone will distance themselves from me," Lauzon said
Saturday. "but if anyone tells you we're winning the war on drugs,
they're lying."

Of hard drug dealers, he asked "What social value do they have? They
are dealing crack and heroin to young people, knowing full well well
what the effects will be. What purpose do they serve in society other
than to destroy lives, to destroy families?"

Lauzon said he hopes to host a statewide forum in late April on
Vermont's problems with illegal drugs.

Vermont does not have the death penalty for any crime. Republican
Gov. Jim Douglas has said he might favor the death penalty in some
circumstances, but has stopped short of proposing one, in part
because it's unlikely the Democrat-controlled Legislature would agree.