Designating Fentanyl as a Weapon of Mass Destruction

Key Points

• The President has officially labeled illegal fentanyl as a "Weapon of Mass Destruction." This change treats the drug more like a chemical weapon than a typical narcotic because even a tiny amount—about the size of 10 to 15 grains of salt—can be a lethal dose for a person.
• This order allows the government to use more powerful tools to stop drug cartels and foreign groups. The Department of the Treasury and the State Department will now target the bank accounts and property of people and businesses involved in making or moving the drug or its ingredients.
• Federal prosecutors are directed to seek tougher punishments and longer prison sentences for fentanyl traffickers. The order also asks the Department of War and the Department of Justice to see if military resources can be used to help law enforcement stop the flow of the drug into the country.
• The Department of Homeland Security will start using high-level intelligence—the kind usually used to track nuclear or chemical weapons—to find and break up smuggling networks. This is meant to stop the drug and its chemical ingredients before they reach U.S. borders.
• The policy focuses only on "illicit" fentanyl, which is the illegal version made by criminals. It does not change how doctors prescribe legal fentanyl for medical use, but it does target the specific chemicals used to make the illegal version.

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