By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, it is hereby ordered:<\/p>\n
Section 1.\u00a0 Purpose and Policy.\u00a0 Illicit fentanyl is closer to a chemical weapon than a narcotic.\u00a0 Two milligrams, an almost undetectable trace amount equivalent to 10 to 15 grains of table salt, constitutes a lethal dose. \u00a0Hundreds of thousands of Americans have died from fentanyl overdoses.<\/p>\n
The manufacture and distribution of fentanyl, primarily performed by organized criminal networks, threatens our national security and fuels lawlessness in our hemisphere and at our borders.\u00a0 The production and sale of fentanyl by Foreign Terrorist Organizations and cartels fund these entities\u2019 operations \u2014 which include assassinations, terrorist acts, and insurgencies around the world \u2014 and allow these entities to erode our domestic security and the well-being of our Nation.\u00a0 The two cartels that are predominantly responsible for the distribution of fentanyl in the United States engage in armed conflict over territory and to protect their operations, resulting in large-scale violence and death that go beyond the immediate threat of fentanyl itself.\u00a0 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. \u00a0<\/p>\n
As President of the United States, my highest duty is the defense of the country and its citizens. \u00a0Accordingly, I hereby designate illicit fentanyl and its core precursor chemicals as Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD).<\/p>\n
Sec. 2. \u00a0Implementation. \u00a0The heads of relevant executive departments and agencies (agencies) shall take appropriate action to implement this order and eliminate the threat of illicit fentanyl and its core precursor chemicals to the United\u00a0States. \u00a0This includes the following actions:<\/p>\n
(a)\u00a0 the Attorney General shall immediately pursue investigations and prosecutions into fentanyl trafficking, including through criminal charges as appropriate, sentencing enhancements, and sentencing variances;<\/p>\n
(b) \u00a0the Secretary of State and the Secretary of the Treasury shall pursue appropriate actions against relevant assets and financial institutions in accordance with applicable law for those involved in or supporting the manufacture, distribution, and sale of illicit fentanyl and its core precursor chemicals;<\/p>\n
(c)\u00a0 the Secretary of War and the Attorney General shall determine whether the threats posed by illicit fentanyl and its impact on the United States warrant the provision of resources from the Department of War to the Department of Justice to aid in the enforcement of title 18 of the United States Code, as consistent with 10 U.S.C. 282;<\/p>\n
(d)\u00a0 the Secretary of War, in consultation with the Secretary of Homeland Security, shall update all directives regarding the Armed Forces\u2019 response to chemical incidents in the homeland to include the threat of illicit fentanyl; and<\/p>\n
(e) \u00a0to ensure the United States uses the full array of appropriate counter-fentanyl tools, the Secretary of Homeland Security, as consistent with applicable law and in coordination with the heads of relevant agencies, as appropriate, shall identify threat networks related to fentanyl smuggling using WMD- and nonproliferation-related threat intelligence to support the full spectrum of counter-fentanyl operations.<\/p>\n
Sec. 3. \u00a0Definitions.\u00a0 (a) \u00a0\u201cIllicit fentanyl\u201d means fentanyl that is manufactured, distributed, or dispensed, or possessed with intent to manufacture, distribute, or dispense in violation of section 401 and 406 of the Controlled Substances Act (21 U.S.C. 841, 846).\u00a0<\/p>\n
(b) \u00a0\u201cCore precursor chemicals\u201d means the core chemicals that create illicit fentanyl and its analogues, such as Piperidone or other Piperidone-based substances.<\/p>\n
Sec. 4.\u00a0 General Provisions. \u00a0(a)\u00a0 Nothing in this order shall be construed to impair or otherwise affect:<\/p>\n
(i)\u00a0 \u00a0the authority granted by law to an executive department or agency, or the head thereof; or<\/p>\n
(ii)\u00a0 the functions of the Director of the Office of\u00a0Management and Budget relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals.<\/p>\n
(b)\u00a0 This order shall be implemented consistent with applicable law and subject to the availability of appropriations.<\/p>\n
(c)\u00a0 This order is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party against the United States, its departments, agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person.<\/p>\n
(d)\u00a0 The costs for publication of this order shall be borne by the Department of Justice.<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 DONALD J. TRUMP<\/p>\n
THE WHITE HOUSE,<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 December 15, 2025.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":17736,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[23,3,21,19,22,20,25,24],"class_list":["post-350870","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-states","tag-america","tag-news","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/350870","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=350870"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/350870\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17736"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=350870"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=350870"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=350870"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}