Florida's attorney general wants President Biden to declare fentanyl a "weapon of mass destruction"
MIAMI – Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody wants President Joe Biden to declare fentanyl a "weapon of mass destruction."
Moody's request of the president cites an incident last week in Tampa and the incident in Wilton Manors over spring break that saw five West Point cadets overdose.
"Border patrol has seized enough fentanyl to the kill the entire American population many times over. With that in mind, and the recent mass overdose events in Hillsborough and Gadsden counties, I am demanding President Biden classify illicit fentanyl as a Weapon of Mass Destruction," she said in a statement. "The federal government already works to disrupt the supply chains of other chemical, biological, radiological or nuclear weapons — it's not hard to imagine that similar tactics could be used to reduce the flow of illicit fentanyl into the U.S. through cartels in Mexico — and save countless American lives."
Moody said reports indicate "more than 75,000 Americans died of an opioid overdose during the 12-month period ending in April 2021, primarily from synthetic opioids like fentanyl."
Fentanyl is a deadly synthetic opioid, where just two milligrams can be considered lethal.
