President Donald Trump signed an executive order designating fentanyl as a weapon of mass destruction.
“Illicit fentanyl is closer to a chemical weapon than a narcotic. 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 order says.
“The two cartels that are predominantly responsible for the distribution of fentanyl in the United States engage in armed conflict over territory and to protect their operations, resulting in large-scale violence and death that go beyond the immediate threat of fentanyl itself,” it adds. “Further, the potential for fentanyl to be weaponized for concentrated, large-scale terror attacks by organized adversaries is a serious threat to the United States.”
The order directs members of President Trump’s Cabinet to take appropriate actions to prevent and eliminate the threat of fentanyl.
Drug Enforcement Agency Administrator Terrance Cole said in a statement that he “stood in the Oval Office as the President signed the Executive Order designating illicit fentanyl and core precursors as Weapons of Mass Destruction—because this is a mass-casualty threat, not a routine narcotics case Being in the room underscored, in unmistakable terms, the urgency of this fight and the weight of what this Order enables across the federal government.”
“DEA will use every lawful tool to dismantle the networks that manufacture, move, and profit from this poison,” he noted. “If you traffic fentanyl, you are dealing in death—and we will treat you accordingly.”
