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0000017a-15d9-d736-a57f-17ff8f680000Coverage of the 2016 races in New Hampshire, from the White House to the State House.

GOP Gubernatorial Candidate Wants Life in Prison for Dealers Connected to Overdose Deaths

Allegra Boverman for NHPR

Republican gubernatorial candidate Jeanie Forrester is calling for mandatory life in prison without parole for people who sell drugs that cause overdose deaths.

The proposal is part of Forrester's plan to deal with New Hampshire's heroin and opioid crisis, an issue taking center stage in the GOP primary.

New Hampshire's attorney general is pushing to hold drug dealers criminally liable for overdose deaths, but no one has been charged with murder. The more frequently used charge of "death resulting" carries a maximum sentence of life in prison with the possibility of parole.

Forrester also says she'd team up with other governors to send a coalition of National Guardsmen to the Texas-Mexico border to help stop the flow of illegal drugs into the country.

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