Despite past efforts, more Americans are dying by fentanyl poisoning than ever before. In fact, according to the latest data from the CDC, fentanyl deaths doubled in just two years, and increased five-fold in six states. In that same time period, fentanyl deaths among teens more than tripled and increased five-fold among Black teens specifically. We are losing more than 170 Americans every day to illicit fentanyl poisoning; surpassing car accidents, suicide, gun deaths breast cancer or colon cancer.

Drug “overdoses,” or poisonings, killed a record 100,000 Americans in 2021, 64% attributable to illicit fentanyl. Fentanyl ravages communities all across the United States, killing hundreds of Americans every day. 

Most Americans who are killed by fentanyl do not even know they are ingesting it. Many buyers use the illicit substance as an inexpensive way to heighten the effects of heroin, cocaine, ecstasy, xanax, weed or oxycontin. Very few dealers advertise fentanyl when selling their products, hoping instead to appear as though they sell uncut highly concentrated products. Without proper dosage, this practice puts tens of thousands of lives at risk every year. Just .02 mg of carfentanil is enough to kill an 158 pound person. Accidental fentanyl deaths among children and infants continue to rise across the United States, and quadrupled from 2018 to 2020.

Twenty years ago, one in five overdoses was determined to be suicide. Today, less than one percent of all fentanyl deaths are attributed to suicide. A staggering 95% of all fentanyl deaths are unintentional, regardless of race.

The unimaginable loss of human life at the hands of illicit fentanyl cannot be overstated.  The threat that it poses to our communities, friends and families should not be overlooked.  But, if the devastating loss of life and the threat of a mass-casualty event are not enough; we should consider the financial cost of the ongoing opioid epidemic.

The White House Council of Economic Advisors estimated that between 2015 and 2018, the opioid crisis cost the United States government $2.5 trillion. Their calculation accounts for the value of statistical life (VSL), a cost that many organizations fail to consider. Since then, illicit fentanyl deaths have doubled.

For too long, the US has treated illicit fentanyl as an ordinary street drug, imprisoning the people at the bottom of the supply chain rather than the people at the top: the international manufacturing and trafficking cartels. With a bold strategy focused on the foreign manufacturers and traffickers of illicit fentanyl, we can save lives and take this poison off our streets. 

Designating fentanyl as a Weapon of Mass Destruction will empower the US to shift from a policy of mass incarceration to an all-of-government approach to cut off the supply chain at its source, effectively stopping the flow of this poison into our country. Meanwhile, we can provide compassionate care to those struggling with addiction by expanding access to affordable rehabilitation programs, mental health counseling and holistic care options. We want to destigmatize addiction by promoting care and tailoring our mental health services to each individual and community. We understand that harsh drug policies can at times do more harm than good, and our goal is to create a solution that will cut off the supply chain and support individuals working towards a healthy future.

A WMD Designation, would allow the U.S. government to use its full power to investigate, uncover and prosecute the international criminal organizations responsible for manufacturing and trafficking illicit fentanyl, its analogues and components. We want to stop this poison BEFORE it reaches our streets.

In 2002, the Soviet Government created a gaseous form of carfentanil in an effort to incapacitate a group of Chechen rebels and their hostages holed up in a Moscow theater otherwise inaccessible to a SWAT-like team. Instead, they unintentionally killed hundreds of people, both rebels and hostages alike. The potential exposure pathways are vast, and can be easily manipulated to kill hundreds if not thousands of people.

Illicit fentanyl is cheap, easy to manufacture and easily weaponized. Fentanyl can be aerosolized or dissolved into our water supply; allowing domestic or international terrorists to effectively wipe out large swaths of people. Extortionists already use fentanyl as a bargaining tool; threatening to poison innocent people with fentanyl if their loved ones refuse to pay a ransom.

A number of government officials have already spoken out about the threat that fentanyl poses both nationally and internationally. James F. McDonell, former DHS assistant secretary for countering weapons of mass destruction, was quoted as saying “Fentanyl’s high toxicity and increasing availability are attractive to threat actors seeking nonconventional materials for a chemical weapons attack.” Andy Weber, former assistant secretary of defense for Nuclear, Chemical and Biological Defense Programs, similarly believes that “[fentanyl is] a game changer.  In my lifetime I’ve never seen a weapon of mass destruction that is part of an existing black market.”

We have garnered the support of both Republicans and Democrats alike, and our coalition letter addressed to President Biden was signed by: the Honorable Tom Ridge, the first U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security; Michael J. Morell, former Acting and Deputy Director of the CIA; the Honorable John O. Brennan, former Director of the CIA; Ambassador Earl Anthony “Tony” Wayne, former Ambassador to Mexico and Argentina; and former leaders of the ONDCP, the DEA and the DoD.

Many law enforcement, intelligence and emergency response agencies have existing procedures in place to address similarly dangerous Weapons of Mass Destruction.  This designation would simply apply these existing standards to the manufacturing, trade and distribution of illicit fentanyl and its analogues. In order to defeat this crisis and prevent future deaths, sustained and concrete action is needed. Existing legislation lays the foundation for a WMD designation, but has not gone far enough. This issue affects both parties, and therefore requires a bipartisan, proactive solution targeting the top of the supply chain.