President Trump signed an government order Monday that classifies fentanyl as a weapon of mass destruction.
The order comes after a number of months of controversial strikes on alleged drug-carrying boats and “narco-terrorists” from Venezuela within the Caribbean, which some critics have stated might be unlawful.
“No bomb does what this is doing,” the President stated within the Oval Workplace, referencing overdose deaths attributable to the artificial opioid in the US. “So we’re formally classifying fentanyl as a weapon of mass destruction.
“They’re trying to drug out our country.”
The Division of Homeland Safety beforehand outlined weapons of mass destruction as “radiological, chemical, biological, or other device that is intended to harm a large number of people.”
“Illicit fentanyl is closer to a chemical weapon than a narcotic,” the order reads. “Two milligrams, an almost undetectable trace amount equivalent to 10 to 15 grains of table salt, constitutes a lethal dose. Hundreds of thousands of Americans have died from fentanyl overdoses.”
The Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention estimates fentanyl killed greater than 80,000 People in 2024. The opioid is a number one reason behind U.S. overdose deaths.
The order directs Lawyer Common Pam Bondi to right away pursue “investigations and prosecutions” into fentanyl trafficking and calls on the State and Treasury departments to focus on property and accounts of people concerned in drug trafficking. As a part of the order, the departments of Protection and Homeland Safety are additionally given further instruments to focus on nations, cartels and different organizations concerned in manufacturing or trafficking fentanyl.
Basically, a number of companies are referred to as to “eliminate the threat of illicit fentanyl and its core precursor chemicals to the United States.”
Trump had beforehand imposed tariffs on China, Canada and Mexico for allegedly not doing sufficient to cease the move of fentanyl into the US. He has additionally designated a number of drug cartels as international terrorist organizations. He has additionally repeatedly threatened strikes on land in Venezuela, Colombia and Mexico to ostensibly battle drug trafficking.
The order was introduced throughout a ceremony to award the Mexican Border Protection Medal to members of the navy dispatched to the southern border.
