Key Highlights
- President Donald Trump signed a historic executive order declaring illicit fentanyl and its precursor chemicals Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD), warning that the drug poses a threat more comparable to a chemical weapon than a narcotic.
- "Today, I'm taking another step to protect Americans from the scourge of deadly fentanyl flooding into our country," Trump said from the Oval Office on Monday.
- "With this historic executive order I'm signing today, we are formally classifying fentanyl as a weapon of mass destruction — because that's what it is."The order asserts that illicit fentanyl is "closer to a chemical weapon than a narcotic," noting that as little as two milligrams — "an almost undetectable trace amount equivalent to 10 to 15 grains of table salt" — can be lethal.
- It states that hundreds of thousands of Americans have died from fentanyl overdoses and argues that the drug’s production and distribution by organized criminal networks now constitute a significant national-security threat.
- It describes cartel operations responsible for supplying fentanyl to the United States as fueling "lawlessness" across the Western Hemisphere and helping finance assassinations, terrorist acts, and insurgencies abroad.
