10 things you need to know today: March 20, 2018

Trump calls for the death penalty for drug traffickers, a package bound for Austin explodes at a FedEx facility, and more

Trump spoke about the opioid crisis in New Hampshire.
(Image credit: MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images)

1. Trump calls for death penalty against some drug traffickers

President Trump on Monday called for using the death penalty against some drug traffickers as part of a campaign to get tougher in fighting the nation's opioid epidemic. "Toughness is the thing that they most fear," Trump said. The comments came as Trump unveiled a long-awaited plan to combat opioid drug addiction. Trump announced the plan in New Hampshire, an early-voting state that has been hit hard by the epidemic. Trump called for heightened awareness and expanding treatment, but the central component of his plan was increasing punishment for people trafficking the drugs. "This isn't about nice anymore," Trump said. "This is about winning a very, very tough problem and if we don't get very tough on these dealers it's not going to happen, folks."

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Harold Maass, The Week US

Harold Maass is a contributing editor at The Week. He has been writing for The Week since the 2001 debut of the U.S. print edition and served as editor of TheWeek.com when it launched in 2008. Harold started his career as a newspaper reporter in South Florida and Haiti. He has previously worked for a variety of news outlets, including The Miami Herald, ABC News and Fox News, and for several years wrote a daily roundup of financial news for The Week and Yahoo Finance.