Trump Formally Classifies Street Fentanyl As A Weapon Of Mass Destruction

Trump labels fentanyl a weapon of mass destruction, though experts doubt it will curb U.S. overdose deaths.

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

On Dec. 15, the president signed an executive order designating illicit fentanyl and its key precursor chemicals as weapons of mass destruction, NPR reports. While the immediate impact of the order remains unclear, it aims to curb the devastation fentanyl has caused American families—losses Trump said surpass those of many U.S. wars.

“Two to three hundred thousand people die every year, that we know of, so we’re formally classifying fentanyl as a weapon of mass destruction,” Trump said.

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

“Today I’m taking one more step to protect Americans from the scourge of deadly fentanyl flooding into our country with this historic executive order,” Trump said, adding, “No bomb does what this is doing.”

Most drug policy experts say labeling fentanyl as a WMD is unlikely to reduce street availability or U.S. overdose deaths. Globally, there is only one recorded case—Russia in 2002—of fentanyl being weaponized as a gas, with no such incidents reported in the U.S. Jeffrey Singer, a physician and Cato Institute drug policy expert, noted that U.S. fentanyl deaths result from widespread opioid addiction, not intentional 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 expands Trump’s military combat strategy to the U.S. war on drugs, including recent military strikes on suspected drug-running boats and labeling cartels as terrorist groups. There have been 22 strikes in the Caribbean near Venezuela and the eastern Pacific that have killed over 80 people this year.

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

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

However, most experts on criminal cartels and street drugs say that military strikes on speedboats in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific are unlikely to significantly reduce overdose deaths in the U.S.

“Killing a drug mule has minimal effect on the flow of drugs, or 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, though synthetic opioids, mainly fentanyl, contributed to most cases.