Trump designates new weapon of mass destruction: “No bomb does what this is doing”

President Donald Trump has signed an executive order designating illicit fentanyl and its chemical precursors as weapons of mass destruction (WMD), arguing that the drug poses a threat comparable to that of a chemical weapon.

“Today I’m taking one more step to protect Americans from the scourge of deadly fentanyl flooding into our country with this historic executive order,” Trump said, adding, “No bomb does what this is doing.”

The order, signed into law by Trump on Monday, says: “The production and sale of fentanyl by Foreign Terrorist Organizations and cartels fund these entities’ operations — which include assassinations, terrorist acts, and insurgencies around the world — and allow these entities to erode our domestic security and the well-being of our Nation."

Some experts, however, question whether fentanyl fits that classification. Jeffrey Singer, a physician and drug policy expert at the Cato Institute, told NPR that most fentanyl-related deaths in the United States are the result of widespread opioid addiction, not the deliberate use of the drug as a weapon by criminal organizations.

What does this mean?

According to the Trump administration, the WMD designation will allow the government to use “all the tools at our disposal” to combat cartels and foreign networks involved in fentanyl trafficking. The move reflects the administration’s broader use of militarized language to justify expanded counter-narcotics operations.

Since September, the administration has carried out more than 20 operations in the Caribbean targeting vessels and crews suspected of drug trafficking. Last month, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced a new initiative aimed at what he described as “narcoterrorism” in the region.

The executive order builds on a measure Trump signed in January, at the start of his second term, designating drug cartels as foreign terrorist organization. He is hoping that the new designation will expand the legal authority of U.S. agencies to target drug trafficking and distribution networks.

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