Trump Designates Fentanyl as Weapon of Mass Destruction in Unprecedented Drug War Escalation

Dec 16, 2025 09:21 am CST

President Donald Trump has signed an executive order classifying fentanyl as a weapon of mass destruction, elevating the synthetic opioid from a public health issue to a national security threat. This unprecedented designation expands federal authority to combat drug trafficking, authorizes military involvement, and enables intelligence agencies to use counterproliferation tools against traffickers responsible for thousands of American overdose deaths annually.