President Donald J. Trump has declared fentanyl a weapon of mass destruction, formally shifting the US response from a public health framework to a national security posture.
“We’re formally classifying fentanyl as a weapon of mass destruction, which is what it is,” Trump said. “They’re trying to drug out our country.”
The executive order authorizes the Pentagon and intelligence agencies to deploy tools normally reserved for countering weapons proliferation and follows Trump’s designation of drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations.
Since September, the administration has carried out more than 20 military strikes on suspected drug vessels, killing more than 80 people, despite limited public evidence the boats were carrying drugs.
Public resistance to the campaign has surfaced, with surveys indicating widespread discomfort over the use of lethal military force in drug interdiction, including notable dissent within Trump’s own political base.
