U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Monday to declare fentanyl, a drug that has wreaked havoc on the American population in recent years, «as a weapon of mass destruction». «With this historic executive order that I will sign today, we will formally classify fentanyl as a weapon of mass destruction, which is what it really is,» Trump said at an event at the White House. «If this were a war, it would be one of the worst wars; I think that in the last five or six years, between 200,000 and 300,000 people have died a year (from fentanyl).» The president stated that «there is no doubt that America's adversaries are trafficking fentanyl to the United States, in part because they want to kill Americans.» The Republican highlighted that during his term, he has achieved, in his words, «a 50% reduction in the amount of fentanyl crossing the border,» and assured that China is «working closely» with the U.S. «It is not satisfactory, but it soon will be,» he added. The text of the order states that «illegal fentanyl is more akin to a chemical weapon than a narcotic» and that its production and sale «by foreign terrorist organizations and cartels finances the operations of these entities—which include murders, terrorist acts, and insurgencies worldwide—and allows them to undermine our national security and the well-being of our nation.» The order instructs several Cabinet secretaries to step up the fight against fentanyl trafficking, and specifically, establishes that «the Secretary of Defense, in consultation with the Secretary of Homeland Security, will update all directives related to the response of the Armed Forces to chemical incidents in the country to include the threat of illegal fentanyl.» According to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), more than 250,000 people died from opioid-related overdoses alone between 2021 and 2023, primarily from fentanyl. Trump announced the signing of the order at an event held to honor military personnel for their work in defending the border with Mexico.
