The Nation - News from May 14, 1986

New York Mayor Edward I. Koch called for federal legislation that would make illegal drug dealers subject to the death penalty. He discounted past efforts to curb the use of narcotics by increasing arrests of dealers and improving education. “What good does it do? You’ve got to take very drastic actions,” he told a news conference. “Unless we do what I suggested, I do not believe we will ever have any major impact on the elimination of cocaine and heroin.”