Trump formally classifies street fentanyl as a weapon of mass destruction

Donald Trump is addressing the opioid epidemic by proposing to classify the street drug fentanyl as a weapon of mass destruction.

On December 15, the president spoke signed one executive order designating illegal fentanyl and its key precursor chemicals as weapons of mass destruction, NPR reports. While the order’s immediate impact remains unclear, it is aimed at curbing the devastation fentanyl has wrought on American families — losses Trump says are greater than those from many U.S. wars.

“As far as we know, two to three hundred thousand people die every year, so we formally classify fentanyl as a weapon of mass destruction,” Trump said.

Although CDC data shows that fentanyl caused about 48,000 deaths in the U.S. last year — a 27% drop from the year before — Trump announced the executive order as part of his broader militarized approach to the war on drugs. He presented it while presenting medals to service members for their “central role in protecting our border.”

“Today, with this historic executive order, I am taking another step to protect Americans from the scourge of deadly fentanyl pouring into our country,” Trump said, adding: “No bomb does what this one does.”

Most drug policies say experts Labeling fentanyl as a weapon of mass destruction is unlikely to reduce its availability on the streets or the number of overdose deaths in the US. Only one case has been recorded worldwide (Russia in 2002) involving the use of fentanyl as a gas, with no such incidents reported in the US. Jeffrey Singer, a physician and drug policy expert at the Cato Institute, noted that fentanyl deaths in the U.S. are the result of widespread opioid addiction, not deliberate weaponization by cartels.

“I don’t know how you can equate smugglers meeting market demand and selling something illegal to someone who wants to buy it as an act of war,” Singer said.

The executive order extends Trump’s military combat strategy to the U.S. war on drugs, including recent military strikes on suspected drug-trafficking boats and the designation of cartels as terrorist groups. There have been 22 strikes this year in the Caribbean, near Venezuela and the eastern Pacific, killing more than 80 people.

During a recent appearance in Pennsylvania, Trump claimed the strikes are making Americans safer.

“Every boat that gets hit saves 25,000 American lives, and when you look at it that way, you don’t mind,” Trump said.

However, most experts on criminal cartels and street drugs say military attacks on speedboats in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific are unlikely to significantly reduce overdose deaths in the US.

“Killing a drug mule has minimal effect on the drug flow or on the systems of criminal organizations,” said Vanda Felbab-Brown, an expert on drug trafficking and addiction at the Brookings Institution.

Last year, drug overdose deaths in the United States fell to their lowest level in five years, although synthetic opioids, especially fentanyl, contributed to most cases.

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