President Trump on Monday declared that the synthetic opioid fentanyl is a “Weapon of Mass Destruction,” signaling he may use the drug as a pretext for a war in Latin America.
“Illicit fentanyl is closer to a chemical weapon than a narcotic,” an executive order signed by the president 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 order says that the US Secretary of War and Attorney General shall “determine whether the threats posed by illicit fentanyl and its impact on the United States warrant the provision of resources from the Department of War to the Department of Justice to aid in the enforcement of title 18 of the United States Code.”
It directs the Secretary of War to “update all directives regarding the Armed Forces’ response to chemical incidents in the homeland to include the threat of illicit fentanyl.”
The order also calls for the Secretary of War and the Secretary of Homeland Security to “identify threat networks related to fentanyl smuggling using WMD- and nonproliferation-related threat intelligence to support the full spectrum of counter-fentanyl operations.”
President Trump has previously claimed that boats the US military has bombed off the coast of Venezuela were carrying fentanyl, but the synthetic opioid isn’t produced in Venezuela and doesn’t transit through the country on its way to the US. According to federal government data, the vast majority of fentanyl comes from Mexico and is smuggled through the border in cars driven by US citizens.
Pharmaceutical-grade fentanyl is used in hospitals and medical centers in the US as a pain reliever and an anesthetic, and can end up on the street, but most cases of overdoses in the US are the result of illegally-made fentanyl.
