President Donald Trump says he wants the death penalty for drug dealers, according to a new report.

Multiple sources tell Axios that Trump frequently mentions other countries' drug enforcement policies, including Singapore's mandatory death penalty for drug trafficking convictions, "a lot."

"He says, 'When I ask the prime minister of Singapore do they have a drug problem [the prime minister replies,] 'No. Death penalty,'" one insider said.

"He often jokes about killing drug dealers," a senior administration official also told Axios. "He'll say, 'You know the Chinese and Filipinos don't have a drug problem. They just kill them.'"

According to the news publication, Trump said he would "love to have a law" that makes drug dealers fear for their lives. Axios sources said the president admits escalating punishment to executions would be unlikely to pass, but may support legislation requiring a five-year minimum sentence for selling as little as two grams of fentanyl -- the current penalty is for 20 times as much fentanyl.

"The opioid crisis is an emergency, and I'm saying officially right now it is an emergency. It's a national emergency. We're going to spend a lot of time, a lot of effort and a lot of money on the opioid crisis," Trump declared in August.

During the State of the Union last month, Trump said that the U.S. must get "much tougher on drug dealers and pushers" to end the opioid epidemic.

The Hill reports synthetic opioids, more potent than heroin, have been on the rise in the U.S. and led an increase in fatal overdoses. However, it remains to be seen how much funding the Trump administration has pushed toward the effort.

Skaneateles native Taylor Weyeneth, 24, was recently revealed to be the No. 2 person in charge of the White House drug policy office that oversees the opioid battle. He's been criticized as an example of staffing problems under Trump, but Weyeneth told syracuse.com that he has been unfairly singled out for holding a post that was always meant to be temporary.

"My work ethic has never been questioned and I will continue fighting for what is right and working to end this opioid and overdose epidemic our country faces," Weyeneth said last month.

Newsweek reports White House counselor Kellyanne Conway, who currently leads the White House drug policy office, told Axios that Trump's capital punishment idea is focused on high-volume dealers whose drugs are responsible for thousands of deaths.

"There is an appetite among many law enforcement, health professionals and grieving families that we must toughen up our criminal and sentencing statutes to match the new reality of drugs like fentanyl, which are so lethal in such small doses," Conway said.

"The president makes a distinction between those that are languishing in prison for low-level drug offenses and the kingpins hauling thousands of lethal doses of fentanyl into communities, that are responsible for many casualties in a single weekend."