With opioid overdose levels skyrocketing, President Donald Trump unveiled a strategy Monday to counter the impact of deadly drugs nationwide – including capital punishment for high-level traffickers

In a direct message to dealers and traffickers, he threw down the gauntlet.

'We will find you, we will arrest you, and we will hold you accountable,' he said to applause during a speech in Manchester, New Hampshire..

And his version of 'toughness,' he said, 'includes the death penalty.'

In a confusing moment on Monday, Trump stepped on his own messaging.

'Unless you have really, really powerful penalties – led by the death penalty – for the really bad pushers and abusers, we are going to get nowhere,' he said, appearing to equate drug 'abusers' with the dealers who supply them.

President Trump shared ideas he had for solving the nation's opioid crisis, like putting drug kingpins to death and building his border wall with Mexico

But most of his pitch was a brushback pitch to the criminals who fuel between one- and three-quarters of a trillion dollars in U.S. illicit drug sales each year.

'Some of these drug dealers will kill thousands of people during their lifetimes ... and they'll get caught, and they'll get 30 days in jail, or they'll go away for a year, or they'll get fined,' the president said.

Yet 'if you kill one person, you get the death penalty or you go away for life.'

Unless that lopsided equation is righted, he said, 'we are just doing the wrong thing. We have got to get tough.'

Part of Trump's task on Monday was to dove-tail his drug addiction policy with his long-stated immigration goals.

He said in New Hampshire that 90 per cent of the heroin in the U.S. comes through the Mexican border.

'Eventually the Democrats will agree with us and we'll build the wall to keep the damn drugs out,' he said, with a partisan audience whooping and cheering.

Sounding more like a campaign rally crowd than a group witnessing a presidential address, they shouted: 'Build that wall! Build that wall!'

TRAGIC OVERDOSE: President Donald Trump listens as Jeanne and Jim Moser of East Kingston, N.H. speak about their son, Adam, who died of an opioid drug overdose in 2015, during a speech about his plan to combat opioid drug addiction at Manchester Community College, Monday, March 19, 2018, in Manchester, N.H.

Trump traveled to New Hampshire, the first-in-the-nation primary state, for the speech. During the campaign, he referred to New Hampshire as a 'drug infested den'

The president raised eyebrows when he first floated the idea of making the death penalty available to federal prosecutors in some drug trafficking cases.

That national head-scratch split into a serious policy debate last week when a leaked copy of a policy blueprint included the idea of capital punishment for kingpins.

Presidential counselor Kellyanne Conway told reporters aboard Air Force One that the policy proposal 'is about drug traffickers. This is high-level, very specific cases.'

A senior administration official said Sunday night during a conference call with journalists that the Justice Department would only seek that penalty to the degree it is permitted 'under current law.'

American Civil Liberties Union objected loudly on Monday, with Jesselyn McCurdy, deputy director of its Washington legislative office, condemning Trump for endorsing 'draconian law enforcement provisions.'

McCurdy said in a statement that capital punishment for drug dealers would be 'unconstitutional and absurd.'

'Drug trafficking is not an offense for which someone can receive the death penalty. The Supreme Court has repeatedly and consistently rejected the use of the death penalty in cases where there has been no murder by the convicted individual,' she said.

But Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who appeared on stage with Trump on Monday – but did not speak from the podium – thanked the president for his 'strong leadership.'

'At the Department of Justice, we have made ending the drug epidemic a priority,' Sessions said. 'We will continue to aggressively prosecute drug traffickers and we will use federal law to seek the death penalty wherever appropriate.'

First lady Melania Trump watches as her husband, President Donald Trump speaks to supporters, local politicians and police officers at an event at Manchester Community College on March 19, 2018 in Manchester, New Hampshire

President Trump spoke about the nation's opioid epidemic Monday in Manchester, New Hampshire, a state that he heralded for his primary win, but also called a 'drug infested den'

The White House has sought to de-emphasize the criminal justice aspects of the president's rollout, focusing instead on prevention and treatment.

Trump played to that priority early in his speech Monday, declaring that 'failure is not an option. Addiction is not our future.'

'It will stop,' he promised.

'We will liberate our country from this crisis,' Trump said, pledging that Americans 'will raise a drug-free generation of American children.'

Trump also dipped his toe Monday into the unique political pond he'll need to master a second time in the 2020 presidential primary season.

A 2017 poll of Granite State residents found that the scourge of illicit drugs was the single biggest problem they faced – scoring higher than jobs, taxes, health care and immigration.

First lady Melania Trump gave the introduction Monday for her husband, President Donald Trump, in Manchester, New Hampshire

US President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump visit Manchester Central Fire Station in Manchester, New Hampshire on March 19, 2018

It was the first time a majority of New Hampshirites ever told pollsters that any one issue outweighed all other concerns combined.

First lady Melania Trump introduced her husband Monday in New Hampshire, decrying the impact of opioid abuse on young mothers and children.

She said she hopes especially for a greater nationwide focus on educating women about the impact of opioids on unborn babies.

Trump's overall approach blends attacks on illicit drug traffickers and over-prescribing doctors with greater funding of addiction counseling and treatment.

But it remains unclear just how much money the administration will ask Congress to devote to treating what has become a national cancer.

Whatever the amount is, Democrats are likely to claim it amounts to a drop in the bucket.

One aide to a Democratic senator said Monday that the left side of Capitol Hill's aisles is afraid the funding scheme for Trump's new 'drug war' will resemble 'his laughable plan for infrastructure.'

'This White House has basically told all the states that it'll get some seed money out there for bridges and tunnels, but they're going to have to raise most of it themselves,' the Senate staffer said.

'If that's the way this opioid program is going to be built, it'll barely make a ripple in a gigantic pond.'

President Donald Trump is applauded prior to delivering remarks on 'combatting the opioid crisis' in a speech at Manchester Community College in Manchester, New Hampshire, U.S., March 19, 2018. Applauding (L-R): U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams, White House Senior Counselor Kellyanne Conway; Kirstjen Nielsen, Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security; Alex Azar II, Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services; and U.S. Attorney General Jess Sessions

KEEP CLAPPING: Attorney General Jeff Sessions(L) applauds as US President Donald Trump speaks about combating the opioid crisis at Manchester Community College in Manchester, New Hampshire on March 19, 2018

The White House says that, like international crises in Iran and North Korea, America's illicit narcotics boom is a deep-seated sickness that Barack Obama left for him to cure.

The senior administration official suggested Sunday that deadly variants of opioid painkillers like Fentanyl have been allowed to proliferate because of Obama's soft-glove approach to criminal justice.

'I think it's a shame that we've seen the prior administration did not prioritize enforcing the law as related to drugs,' the official said.

'That, I think, has been directly attributable to the rise and increase of Fentanyl, and the resulting overdose deaths.'

Conway said Monday that mandatory minimum sentences should be triggered at a different level for Fentanyl than for other drugs because just a 'trace' amount of it can kill.

Fentanyl is 100 times as powerful as morphine and 50 times the strength of heroin.

Accoding to current sentencing guidelines, mandatory minimums in place don't kick in unless a trafficker is caught with 20,000 doses.

Some states have decriminalized marijuana in recent years, sensing a willingness of the Justice Department to leave the overriding federal laws against the drug unenforced.

But Trump's DOJ has signaled a willingness to crack down, even where less potent 'gateway drugs' are concerned.

Before his speech, President Trump (right) and first lady Melania Trump (left) visited the Manchester Central Fire Station, where he held onto a fireman's hat

'For states that are choosing to follow that path, it is a terrible mistake to not vigorously enforce the law as it relates to illicit drug use,' the senior admininstration official argued.

Some experts say the same international pathways used by marjuana smugglers provide a conduit for harder drugs, including heroin, Fentanyl and cocaine.

A second administration official told DailyMail.com on Monday that 'sealing the border with Mexico' and 'getting tougher at [sea] ports' would have an impact on every facet of the illicit drug trade.

'Even if you build the president's wall, the problem isn't going to dry up overnight,' the official conceded, noting that some Drug Enforcement Administration figures indicate more narcotics come into the U.S. via ocean routes than by land.

'But the last White House did a lot of nothing,' the official claimed. 'it feels like we're starting from zero.'

President Trump and first lady Melania Trump listen as Daniel Goonan, Manchester City Fire Chief, speaks during a visit the Manchester Central Fire Station on Monday

One direction out of the starting blocks is cutting back on the drug channels that don't break any laws, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said Monday morning.

Appearing on 'Fox & Friends,' he said his agency wants to slash legal prescriptions of opiates like OxyContin and Percocet by one-third in the next three years.

Azar compared the 'over-prescription' of those painkillers to a similar overuse of antibiotics, which has made some infectious diseases resistant to the medicines.

And he said the president's openness to seeing major drug traffickers put to death shows his 'seriousness.'

President Trump (left) and first lady Melania Trump (right) seen leaving the White House Monday en route to Manchester, New Hampshire

'If you are involved in the distribution of illicit drugs – or if you are improperly using, selling, distributing even legal opioids – there should be serious penalties attached and serious enforcement,' he said.

A different official said Sunday that the U.S. opioid addiction epidemic 'is a very tricky thing. It starts often in the family medicine cabinet, the little bottle there has a label with the local pharmacy and the family doctor.'

Many people find themselves addicted to painkillers that were covered under Medicare or Medicaid, only to learn that the same programs won't fund treatment programs.

The White House denies that choosing New Hampshire for Monday's speech has a political component, even though longtime Ohio Republican Gov. John Kasich has already visited the state and a parade of other water-testers is sure to follow.

'It doesn't carry any political weight tomorrow,' a senior administration official insisted on Sunday, noting that the White House invited New Hampshire's entire Senate and House delegations – all Democrats – to appear with the president in Manchester.

President Donald Trump holds first lady Melania Trump, who lost her footing while walking across the South Lawn of the White in Washington, Monday, March 19, 2018, before boarding Marine One helicopter for the short trip to Andrews Air Force Base, Md. They traveled to New Hampshire for Trump's event on the opioid crisis

'We would like them to attend,' the official said. 'I don't think they are.'

Attorney General Jeff Session, who has been upbraided by Trump for his handling of the Russia probe, accompanied the president to New Hampshire but did not speak at the event.

He issued a statement praising Trump and promising to prosecute dealers 'aggressively.'

'Drug dealers show no respect for human dignity and put their own greed ahead of the safety and even the lives of others. Drug trafficking is an inherently violent and deadly business: if you want to collect a drug debt, you collect it with the barrel of a gun. As surely as night follows day, violence and death follow drug trafficking, and murder is often a tool of drug traffickers,' said Sessions.

'At the Department of Justice, we have made ending the drug epidemic a priority. We will continue to aggressively prosecute drug traffickers and we will use federal law to seek the death penalty wherever appropriate,' Session added.

'I want to thank the President for his strong leadership on this issue and I join him in sending the message that business as usual has ended,' Sessions concluded.