Mexico to analyze fentanyl implications as a “weapon of mass destruction” in the U.S.

Mexico City.- The president of Mexico, Claudia Sheinbaum, assured this Tuesday that her Government “will analyze the implications” of the executive order signed on Monday by US President Donald Trump to declare fentanyl as a “weapon of mass destruction”.

“On the one hand, we are going to analyze it. Second, the issue of consumption cannot be addressed without also having a policy of addressing the causes and addressing young people; and, third, fentanyl also has legal consumption, it is used as an anesthetic,” said the president during her morning conference at the National Palace.

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The Mexican ruler questioned the “implications” of this executive order when this drug is legal and when it is not, especially when it is classified as “a weapon of chemical destruction”. He also reiterated that the position of the Mexican Government goes “beyond the punitive part”, in which “those who generate violence, especially related to drug trafficking, must be pursued”. Sheinbaum emphasized that “the central theme is addressing the causes of drug use” and stated that the vision of the government she leads is different from Trump’s. “Our vision of how to address drug use is different, of course we have to address crimes, for that there is a prosecutor’s office and judges, but we also have to address the causes of drug use, if the causes are not addressed it will be fentanyl or another drug, drugs will continue to be used,” he stated. The head of the Executive’s statements come after President Trump signed an executive order on Monday to declare fentanyl – a drug that has wreaked havoc on the American population in recent years – “as a weapon of mass destruction”. “Today I am taking another step to protect Americans from the scourge of deadly fentanyl that is flooding our country. With this historic executive order that I will sign today, we will formally classify fentanyl as a weapon of mass destruction, which is what it really is,” Trump declared at an event held at the White House. The president pointed out that “if this were a war, it would be one of the worst wars” and detailed that “in the last five or six years, between 200,000 and 300,000 people have died per year (due to fentanyl)”. Mexico and the United States have reaffirmed various joint efforts against fentanyl and other synthetic drugs. The latest figures from the Secretariat of Security and Citizen Protection reported that in the 14 months of the Sheinbaum Administration, 311 tons of drugs have been seized, “including more than 4 million fentanyl pills.”