Commentary
It’s the nightmare scenario few in Washington want to talk about—and even fewer are prepared to confront—and that is the use of illicit fentanyl as a weapon. Although medicinal fentanyl is used safely in anesthesia, illicit fentanyl is widely known as the deadly synthetic opioid driving America’s deadly overdose crisis. Fentanyl has been, and is now, further emerging as a credible chemical weapon in the hands of state and nonstate actors. The question is not whether fentanyl can be used as a weapon. It already has been. The question now is whether America is taking all the appropriate steps needed to prepare for the worst. In the 118th Congress, I had proposed that illicit fentanyl be classified as a weapon of mass destruction.