Former President Donald Trump just renewed his call for using the death penalty to punish drug dealers. 

Trump, according to The Hill, did so on Saturday, during a 2024 campaign event that he held in New Hampshire.

"President Xi in China controls 1.4 billion people with an iron hand - no drug problems. You know why they have no drug problems? Death penalty for the drug dealers," Trump said.

The former president continued by suggesting that America ought to follow China's lead on this one.

"You want to solve your drug problem, you have to institute a meaningful death penalty for… a drug dealer," Trump said.

This is not a new stance for Trump. The former president, in fact, has made this same argument on several occasions in recent years.

In July 2022, during a speech that he gave at the America First Policy Institute's summit, Trump said, "If you look at countries throughout the world, the ones that don’t have a drug problem are those that institute a very quick trial death penalty sentence for drug dealers."

Trump, on this occasion, added, "You execute a drug dealer and you save 500 lives because they kill on average 500 people. It’s terrible to say but you take a look at every country in this world that doesn’t have a problem with drugs, they have a very strong death penalty for the people that sell drugs."

Similarly, Trump, at a CNN town hall event that was held more recently - in May of 2023 - Trump said, "We're going to be asking everyone who sells drugs, gets caught selling drugs, to receive the death penalty for their heinous act, because it's the only way."

The death penalty, of course, is a controversial issue. So, Trump has faced push back, on this issue, from those who oppose the death penalty.

Some have pointed to Trump's commutation of Alice Johnson's life sentence for cocaine distribution and money laundering as an example of why the death penalty for drug dealers would be a bad idea.

Trump, in fact, was pressed on this issue during a Fox News interview with Bret Baier, back in June.

Trump suggested that, under his proposal, whether or not a convicted drug dealer would be eligible for the death penalty would depend on the severity of that individual's drug dealing.

Trump also argued that, in the case of Johnson, "she wouldn't have done it" if she knew that she could have received the death penalty.