Trump signs executive order classifying fentanyl as ‘weapon of mass destruction’

Watch Trump signs executive order classifying fentanyl as ‘weapon of mass destruction’ - New York Post on Dailymotion

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00:00President Trump has signed an executive order aimed at his war on fentanyl.

00:03We're formally classifying fentanyl as a weapon of mass destruction, which is what it is.

00:10No bomb does what this is doing. 200 to 300,000 people die every year.

00:16The surprising move allows him to escalate the administration's anti-smuggling campaign

00:21and instructs agencies to focus prosecutorial, military and diplomatic efforts to reduce the

00:27flow of the deadly drug into the country. The executive order says that the drug is, quote,

00:31closer to a chemical weapon than a narcotic. Now, much of the illegal fentanyl that makes its way

00:36into the United States is sourced from China. Congressional Republicans have pointed the

00:41finger at the country, claiming that Beijing is trying to wage a rerun of the opium crisis that

00:47previously plagued China as European nations once flooded the Asian nation with the drug to weaken

00:52their people. The president even gave a nod to that analogy Monday. Look at China when they were

00:57loaded up with drugs. They were suffering greatly and others were able to take them over

01:04and other countries also. They're trying to drug out our country. Trump also said yesterday that

01:09he's considering another drug-related executive order, one that would reclassify marijuana as a

01:15less dangerous drug. If that becomes a reality, it would have a huge impact on the cannabis industry.

01:20It would unlock money for research and make criminal penalties much more lax. A White House

01:26official later stressed that a final decision has not been made.