In a significant escalation of his administration's drug war rhetoric, President Donald Trump has officially classified the powerful synthetic opioid fentanyl as a weapon of mass destruction.
Oval Office Announcement Ties Drug to Foreign Adversaries
The declaration came via an executive order signed on Monday 15 December 2025 during a ceremony in the Oval Office. The event was primarily held to award a long-dormant medal to US military personnel deployed along the border with Mexico.
President Trump acknowledged the drug's legitimate medical applications, stating it is crucial for anaesthesia and pain management. However, he argued that when illicitly "mixed with certain things, it becomes bad." He claimed this mixing occurs in Mexico and that US authorities have seized millions of contaminated pills in recent months.
Venezuela and Mexico in the Crosshairs
The president's remarks took a sharp geopolitical turn. After a digression concerning Colorado's state politics, he directly accused America's adversaries of trafficking fentanyl with the intent to kill US citizens.
"There's no doubt that America's adversaries are trafficking fentanyl into the United States in part because they want to kill Americans," Trump stated. He singled out Venezuela and other nations, alleging they deliberately send the drug to American shores not just for profit, but as a deliberate act of harm, destroying families in the process.
He framed the crisis in stark terms, suggesting that if it were a formal war, "that would be one of the worst wars." The president asserted that fentanyl is responsible for up to 300,000 deaths annually.
Executive Order Aims to 'Protect Americans'
The newly signed order is presented as a tool to "protect Americans from the scourge of deadly fentanyl flooding into our country." By designating fentanyl as a weapon of mass destruction, the administration potentially unlocks broader legal and national security mechanisms to combat its distribution.
This move is widely seen as a major escalation in the Trump administration's ongoing efforts to apply maximum pressure on the Venezuelan government, linking the nation's regime directly to the opioid crisis devastating communities across the United States.
