OPINION | Chris McCarthy: Cape Cod Drug Dealer Deserves Death

This past Friday a convicted felon was busted selling his profitable poison in the parking lot of a Cape Cod drug treatment center.

The United States is in the grip of a drug epidemic and people are dying from it. However, some people are also getting rich from the epidemic. In fact, if it wasn't for the profit margin in narcotics, there would be no problem at all. It is the money that drug dealers make from addicts that keeps them in their chosen profession.

Everyone is innocent until proven guilty. Richard Cincotta, 64, was arrested Friday morning for allegedly selling fentanyl in the parking lot of the Yarmouth Comprehensive Treatment Center. Police said he had drugs and $2000 in cash in his possession. He has been convicted of selling drugs in the past.

The people heading to the drug treatment center are trying to help themselves get clean and break the cycle of addiction. The next dose of fentanyl could literally kill them as it has killed thousands before.

However, the police are alleging that Cincotta was hanging around the parking lot trying to lure the vulnerable addicts back to their vice and to profit from them.

If we are going to stop the death and destruction of fentanyl, then we must get very tough with the people who profit from the narcotics business. The drug dealers must face a punishment that is so steep it makes the risk not worth taking. Lifetime prison sentences and even the death penalty are what is necessary to break the back of narcotics traffickers.

Editor's Note: Chris McCarthy is the host of The Chris McCarthy Show on 1420 WBSM New Bedford. He can be heard weekdays from 10 a.m.-noon. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the author.