Specialists say declaring fentanyl a weapon of mass destruction will not scale back overdoses : NPR

[ad_1] <img src="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/6000x4000+0+0/resize/1100/quality/50/format/jpeg/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F3a%2F6d%2F7cff2ed5402295c52cbf15052968%2Fgettyimages-2252086805.jpg" data-template="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/6000x4000+0+0/resize/{width}/quality/{quality}/format/{format}/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F3a%2F6d%2F7cff2ed5402295c52cbf15052968%2Fgettyimages-2252086805.jpg" class="img" alt="President Donald Trump signs an executive order classifying fentanyl as a "weapon of mass destruction," during a ceremony for the presentation of the Mexican Border Defense Medal in the Oval Office of the White House on December 15, 2025 in Washington, DC. D" fetchpriority="high"/> President Donald Trump indicators an govt order classifying fentanyl as a "weapon of mass destruction," throughout a ceremony for the presentation of the Mexican Border Protection Medal within the Oval Workplace of the White Home on December 15, 2025 in Washington, DC. D Anna Moneymaker/Getty Photographs/Getty Photographs North America conceal caption

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Anna Moneymaker/Getty Photographs/Getty Photographs North America President Trump on Monday signed an govt order designating the road drug fentanyl a weapon of mass destruction.

"The manufacture and distribution of fentanyl, primarily carried out by organized felony networks, threatens our nationwide safety and fuels lawlessness in our hemisphere and at our borders," the order declared.

Throughout an occasion within the Oval Workplace, Trump stated the carnage fentanyl has brought about in American households is worse than U.S. deaths in lots of wars.

"Two to a few hundred thousand individuals die yearly, that we all know of, so we're formally classifying fentanyl as a weapon of mass destruction," Trump stated.

Actually, Trump's numbers are wildly inflated. Based on a report from the Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention, fentanyl killed roughly 48 thousand individuals in the united stateslast 12 months - a 27 p.c drop from the 12 months earlier than.

Specialists additionally say fentanyl can be troublesome to make use of as a weapon of mass destruction. There is just one documented incident worldwide, in 2002, the place the Russian authorities weaponized fentanyl in fuel type. There have been no instances reported within the U.S.

"It's not evident that there's any foundation or want for, or internet profit to, formally designating fentanyl compounds as weapons of mass destruction," concluded a 2019 report by the Heart for the Examine of Weapons of Mass Destruction on the Nationwide Protection College.

Jeffrey Singer, a doctor and an skilled on avenue medicine on the Cato Institute, stated persons are dying from fentanyl within the U.S. due to widespread opioid dependancy, not as a result of cartels are intentionally weaponizing the drug.

"I do not know how one can equate smugglers assembly market demand and promoting one thing unlawful to somebody who needs to purchase it as an act of conflict," Singer stated.

Most drug coverage consultants additionally say designating fentanyl as a WMD is not more likely to reduce the provision of medicine on American streets or gradual US overdose deaths.

However this govt order comes as a part of a wider militarization of the US conflict towards avenue medicine that features army strikes on alleged drug-running boats and reclassifying cartels as terrorist organizations.

The U.S. army has carried out a minimum of 22 assaults on suspected drug boats within the Caribbean and japanese Pacific close to Venezuela thus far this 12 months, leaving greater than 80 individuals useless, in line with an evaluation by NPR. Throughout a speech final week in Pennsylvania, President Trump stated the strikes are making Individuals safer.

"Each boat that will get hit, we save 25,000 American lives and once you view it that approach, you do not thoughts," Trump stated.

However most consultants on felony cartels and lethal avenue medicine say army strikes on speedboats within the Caribbean and Jap Pacific may also have little or no affect on overdose deaths in the US.

"Killing a drug mule has minimal impact on the circulation of medicine, or the programs of felony organizations," stated Vanda Felbab-Brown, an skilled on drug trafficking and dependancy on the Brookings Establishment.

Based on Felbab-Brown, the road drug fentanyl, which accounts for the overwhelming majority of U.S. drug deaths, is not produced in Venezuela, or smuggled in boats being focused.

"No matter actions are taken within the Caribbean don't have any impact on fentanyl," she stated. Cartels working within the Caribbean area are closely concerned in cocaine trafficking, Felbab-Brown stated, however a lot of that unlawful product goes to nations aside from the US.

Others shared the view that the army strikes are more likely to be ineffective and will even be counter-productive.

"All we're doing is making the cartels give you stronger and highly effective types of medicine to smuggle," stated Singer, on the Cato Institute.

His concern is that extra cartels will shift drug manufacturing away from cocaine - a dangerous however far much less deadly avenue drug – and can pivot to dealing deadlier artificial substances akin to fentanyl, methamphetamines and nitazenes that may be produced and smuggled extra simply.

"The added danger makes it mandatory for them to do this," Singer stated.

The Trump administration's nationwide safety technique, launched final month, elevated the struggle towards "narco-terrorists" to a key Protection Division precedence, calling for "the usage of deadly power to interchange the failed legislation enforcement-only technique."

<img src="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/6000x4000+0+0/resize/1100/quality/50/format/jpeg/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F66%2F47%2Ffbff253b46cabcc049fad218b0a4%2Fap25336606938162.jpg" data-template="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/6000x4000+0+0/resize/{width}/quality/{quality}/format/{format}/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F66%2F47%2Ffbff253b46cabcc049fad218b0a4%2Fap25336606938162.jpg" class="img" alt="President Donald Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, seen here in a cabinet meeting on December 2nd, have justified the military strikes on civilian vessels in international waters as part of the national security strategy against "narco-terrorists."" loading="lazy"/> President Trump and Protection Secretary Pete Hegseth, seen right here in a cupboard assembly on December 2, have justified the army strikes on civilian vessels in worldwide waters as a part of the nationwide safety technique towards "narco-terrorists." Julia Demaree Nikhinson/AP conceal caption

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Julia Demaree Nikhinson/AP However many critics say the lethal strikes are primarily based on unverified, false, or wildly exaggerated claims. Final month, for instance, Trump justified the usage of army power towards alleged traffickers by saying "300 million individuals died final 12 months from medicine, that is what's unlawful."

Actually, general drug overdose deaths within the U.S. have been dropping since a minimum of 2023 and accounted for about 76,000 fatalities in a 12-month interval in line with the newest provisional knowledge from the CDC.

Cocaine, the drug predominately trafficked by means of the Caribbean, accounted for roughly 22,000 U.S. deaths in 2024, in line with the newest provisional CDC knowledge, a pointy decline from the 12 months earlier than.

Felbab-Brown and Singer additionally imagine any deterrent impact of a "get powerful" strategy by the U.S. army will probably be misplaced due to what they view as Trump's sample of releasing and pardoning high-level drug traffickers, gang leaders, and corrupt officers linked to the cartels.

<img src="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/8640x5760+0+0/resize/1100/quality/50/format/jpeg/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F0b%2F4e%2F74edecc74cd2ae12ae709082d3b4%2Fap25339738462420.jpg" data-template="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/8640x5760+0+0/resize/{width}/quality/{quality}/format/{format}/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F0b%2F4e%2F74edecc74cd2ae12ae709082d3b4%2Fap25339738462420.jpg" class="img" alt="People in a coffee shop in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, watch a TikTok video of former President Juan Orlando Hernández publicly thanking U.S. President Donald Trump for pardoning him of drug trafficking and weapons charges." loading="lazy"/> Folks in a espresso store in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, watch a TikTok video of former President Juan Orlando Hernández publicly thanking U.S. President Trump for pardoning him of drug trafficking and weapons fees. Moises Castillo/AP/AP conceal caption

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Moises Castillo/AP/AP "Actions akin to pardoning the previous president of Honduras results in the query, what's the level of the coverage?" stated Felbab-Brown.

Juan Orlando Hernández was convicted in federal courtroom final 12 months in New York on drug trafficking and weapons fees. Trump's choice to free him drew a pointy rebuke from Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia, who known as the transfer "surprising."

"He was the chief of one of many largest felony enterprises that has ever been topic to a conviction in U.S. courts, and fewer than one 12 months into his sentence, President Trump is pardoning him, suggesting that President Trump cares nothing about narcotrafficking," Kaine stated on CBS' Face the Nation.

Since returning to the White Home, Trump has additionally pardoned the previous chief of a drug gang known as the Gangster Disciples and the creator of a felony web site known as Silk Street used to site visitors lethal medicine. His administration additionally returned key MS-13 drug gang informants to El Salvador.

Throughout his first time period, Trump additionally freed a high-level Mexican army official, Gen. Salvador Cienfuegos Zepeda from U.S. custody and dropped all felony fees, regardless of proof of his shut ties to what was then considered one of Mexico's deadliest drug cartels.

"I discover it actually obscure. There isn't a regular principled deal with counter-narcotics coverage," stated Felbab-Brown.

Requested by Politico in regards to the choice to pardon the previous Honduran president, regardless of proof he aided violent drug traffickers, Trump steered with out offering proof that Hernández's prosecution by the U.S. Justice Division was politically motivated.

"There are lots of individuals preventing for Honduras, superb folks that I do know, they usually assume he was handled horribly, they usually requested me to do it, and I stated I am going to do it," Trump stated.

The Trump administration's militarized strategy to drug interdiction does have help from some conservative drug coverage consultants.

"We now want drastic motion," stated Andrés Martínez-Fernández on the Heritage Basis.

He acknowledged drug deaths have ebbed from file ranges, however stated Trump's choice to designate cartels as terrorist organizations was lengthy overdue.

"Navy motion and these designations, past them being applicable, are actually essential to confront these threats," Martínez-Fernández advised NPR.

Martínez-Fernández stated concern over Trump's repeated pardons of high-level drug gang leaders is "honest, to a level," however he believes the usage of focused pardons together with army and diplomatic strain might leverage higher cooperation towards the drug cartels from governments within the Western Hemisphere.

Felbab-Brown, at Brookings, stated she too believes Trump's strategy to the drug conflict has pressured some overseas leaders, together with Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, to take extra aggressive motion towards the cartels.

"The specter of tariffs in addition to the designation of the cartels as overseas terrorist organizations created important strain on the Sheinbaum administration to push forward on counter-narcotics cooperation," Felbab-Brown stated, however added that the general affect on drug trafficking will probably be minimal.

In an e-mail to NPR final week, White Home spokeswoman Anna Kelly disputed the concept that army strikes are ineffective at disrupting the circulation of medicine into the U.S.

"The President is correct – any boat bringing lethal poison to our shores has the potential to kill 25,000 Individuals or extra," Kelly stated.

Throughout a cupboard assembly with Trump earlier this 12 months, Lawyer Basic Pam Bondi argued that seizures of unlawful medicine by federal brokers through the first hundred days of Trump's second time period had already "saved, are you prepared for this media, 258 million American lives."

Drug coverage researchers interviewed by NPR described that assertion by Bondi as wildly exaggerated.

Trump administration officers, nonetheless, say they're satisfied the militarization of the drug conflict will ultimately result in fewer drug deaths.

"Killing cartel members who poison our fellow residents is the very best and greatest use of our army," Vice President JD Vance stated in a submit on social media.