Trump designates illicit fentanyl as a weapon of mass destruction

Washington — President Trump connected Monday signed an executive order designating illicit fentanyl arsenic a limb of wide destruction, directing the Pentagon and Justice Department to instrumentality further steps to combat accumulation and organisation of the cause and its precursors. 

The enforcement bid casts fentanyl arsenic not conscionable a lethal drug, but arsenic a imaginable chemic weapon. The White House says the determination "unleashes each instrumentality to combat the cartels and overseas networks liable for flooding communities with this deadly substance," informing that fentanyl could beryllium weaponized for "concentrated, large-scale panic attacks by organized adversaries." 

The designation means the Pentagon could assistance the Justice Department with Department of Defense assets to enforce the transgression codification related to fentanyl, and the Justice Department volition apt prosecute harsher penalties for fentanyl-related crimes. 

The bid comes arsenic the president has said helium is preparing to grow the U.S. run against alleged cause traffickers successful South America, pursuing more than 20 vessel strikes against vessels successful the Caribbean and eastbound Pacific. Most of the fentanyl that enters the U.S. is manufactured successful Mexico utilizing chemicals chiefly imported from China and India. The cause is past smuggled into the U.S., mostly done ports of entry.

"With this historical enforcement bid ... we're formally classifying arsenic a limb of wide destruction, which is what it is," the president said astatine the White House. "No weaponry does what this has done. 200,000 to 300,000 radical dice each year, that we cognize of. So we're formally classifying fentanyl arsenic a limb of wide destruction." 

Fentanyl overdose is the starring origin of decease for Americans ages 18 to 45. The Drug Enforcement Administration says much than 107,000 radical died from a cause overdose successful the U.S. successful 2023, and astir 70% of those deaths were attributed to opioids similar fentanyl. 

The president's enforcement bid describes illicit fentanyl arsenic fentanyl that is manufactured, distributed, dispensed oregon possessed successful usurpation of the Controlled Substances Act. It makes nary notation of fentanyl utilized legally successful aesculapian settings. 

The FBI defines a WMD arsenic a "destructive device, specified arsenic an explosive oregon incendiary bomb, rocket, oregon grenade; a limb that is designed to origin decease oregon superior wounded done toxic oregon poisonous chemical; a limb that contains a biologic cause oregon toxin;" oregon "a limb that is designed to merchandise unsafe levels of radiation oregon radioactivity."

Some members of Congress antecedently sought to classify fentanyl arsenic a WMD.