Updated Dec. 15, 2025, 5:58 p.m. ET
WASHINGTON ‒ President Donald Trump has taken action classifying fentanyl as a “weapon of mass destruction” as his administration escalates efforts to combat the flow of illicit drugs into the United States.
Trump signed an executive order on Monday, Dec. 15, to formalize the designation, which comes after the president signed off on unprecedented airstrikes on alleged drug-carrying boats in the Caribbean from Venezuela.
“No bomb does what this is doing,” Trump said in remarks from the Oval Office, pointing to overdose deaths caused by fentanyl in the United States. “So we’re formally classifying fentanyl as a weapon of mass destruction.”
Trump signed the order as he awarded service members medals for their work securing the U.S.-Mexico border following aggressive actions the president pushed during the first year of his second term to crack down on illegal immigration.
It is unclear whether the classification will mean significant changes to the Trump administration’s ongoing efforts to curb the flow of fentanyl, which the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates has killed more than 80,000 Americans in 2024.
The order directs Attorney General Pam Bondi to immediately pursue “investigations and prosecutions” related to fentanyl trafficking. It commands the State and Treasury departments to target assets and financial institutions of individuals involved in drug trafficking.
The order further calls for Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Bondi to determine whether threats posed by fentanyl warrant resources from the Defense Department, and for Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to identify networks responsible for smuggling fentanyl to “support the full spectrum of counter-fentanyl operations.”
“Illicit fentanyl is closer to a chemical weapon than a narcotic,” the order 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 government has historically used the term “weapons of mass destruction” to describe weapons of war. The Department of Homeland Security defines weapons of mass destruction as “radiological, chemical, biological, or other device that is intended to harm a large number of people.”
In February, Trump designated some drug cartels as “foreign terrorist organizations,” a move administration officials argue gives them legal justification for the strikes on boats in the Caribbean.
Trump’s latest order said the manufacturing and distribution of fentanyl ‒ like traditional weapons of war ‒ “threatens our national security and fuels lawlessness in our hemisphere and at our borders.” It also stated that the two cartels responsible for the distribution of most of the fentanyl in the United States engage in “large-scale violence and death that go beyond the immediate threat of fentanyl itself.”
“Further, the potential for fentanyl to be weaponized for concentrated, large-scale terror attacks by organized adversaries is a serious threat to the United States,” the order said.
Reach Joey Garrison on X @joeygarrison.
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