Source: The Volokh Conspiracy
by Ilya Somin
“Donald Trump continues to order strikes on boats carrying supposed drug traffickers in the Carribean and the Pacific, killing an estimated 43 people so far. I have previously written about why these attacks are both illegal and unjust. … Drug smuggling is, at most, a criminal law issue, not an act of war. And, in many cases, the people targeted either were not actually smuggling drugs or were not on their way to the US (US law cannot and does not forbid mere possession of drugs in international waters). … This equation of drug overdoses with terrorist attacks overlooks the fundamental moral and legal difference between deaths that occur as a result of violent attack and those that occur because consumers voluntarily imbibed a dangerous drug.” (10/26/25)