President Trump on Monday signed an executive order classifying fentanyl as a “weapon of mass destruction.”
“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 in the Oval Office.
“No bomb does what this is doing,” he added.
Trump stated that 200,000 to 300,000 people die every year, that we know of.
The executive order cites the lethality of the drug, which kills tens of thousands of Americans every year, and the fact that transnational criminal groups the Trump administration has designated as foreign terrorist organizations use the sale of fentanyl to fund activities that undermine U.S. national security.
Speaking in the Oval Office as he signed the order, the president said the amount of drugs coming into the U.S. by sea has decreased by 94 percent (most drugs, including fentanyl, enter the U.S. via land ports of entry). Trump added that drug flows are “a direct military threat to the United States of America.”
The administration has focused considerable resources on combating fentanyl as part of its efforts to secure the U.S. border with Mexico. Top administration officials have argued that Trump’s strict immigration limits and border security measures have led to a drop in domestic consumption of fentanyl.
“With a secure border, lives are being saved every day, sex trafficking has plummeted, fentanyl has plummeted,” White House Border Czar Tom Homan said.
“This is yet another action in President Trump’s crackdown on fentanyl — on behalf of every American who has lost a loved one to this deadly poison,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt commented.
The order directs Attorney General Pam Bondi to immediately pursue “investigations and prosecutions” related to fentanyl trafficking. It commands the State and Treasury departments to target assets and financial institutions of individuals involved in drug trafficking.
The order further calls for Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Bondi to determine whether threats posed by fentanyl warrant resources from the Defense Department, and for Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to identify networks responsible for smuggling fentanyl to “support the full spectrum of counter-fentanyl operations.”
“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 government has historically used the term “weapons of mass destruction” to describe weapons of war. The Department of Homeland Security defines weapons of mass destruction as “radiological, chemical, biological, or other device that is intended to harm a large number of people.”