US President Donald Trump on Monday signed an executive order (EO) designating illicit fentanyl, a powerful synthetic opioid driving the US overdose crisis, as a weapon of mass destruction.
The EO issued by the White House asserted that “Illicit fentanyl is closer to a chemical weapon than a narcotic” due to its extreme potency.
“Two milligrams, an almost undetectable trace amount equivalent to 10 to 15 grains of table salt, constitutes a lethal dose,” it said.
The order highlights the national security threat posed by organised criminal networks and cartels, noting that their fentanyl operations fund “assassinations, terrorist acts, and insurgencies” while enabling large-scale violence, and warns of “the potential for fentanyl to be weaponised for concentrated, large-scale terror attacks”.
Seized packages of fentanyl and cash are displayed at the Atlanta Federal Bureau of Investigation headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia, last month. Photo: EPA
Earlier in the day, Trump told reporters that there was “no doubt that America’s adversaries are trafficking fentanyl into the United States, in part because they want to kill Americans”.
