(NewsNation) — As calls to reclassify fentanyl grow louder from victims’ families and lawmakers alike, some experts are concerned whether the drug’s potential rebrand as a “weapon of mass destruction” would help or harm the cause.
The synthetic opioid is one of the leading causes of death in America, resulting in an estimated 74,702 overdose deaths in 2023, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Moms Deborah Dinnocenzo and Sarah Chittum experienced the fentanyl epidemic firsthand. Both lost children to drugs laced with fentanyl and are pushing for change in honor of their kids.
Dinnocenzo lost a daughter, Dana, and a son, Ricky — both to cocaine containing fentanyl. “Sadly, this is become more commonplace in the world,” she told NewsNation.
Chittum, whose son Seth passed away after taking Xanax that contained fentanyl, said she and the group Lost Voices of Fentanyl are working to change how these deaths are perceived.
“We want cartels to be labeled as terrorists,” Chittum said. “And we want the stigma behind these deaths to change.”
Dinnocenzo and Chittum are both trying to get the drug classified as a “weapon of mass destruction” in order to bring down harsher penalties for those who distribute it.
The Department of Homeland Security currently defines a weapon of mass destruction as a “nuclear, radiological, chemical, biological, or other device that is intended to harm a large number of people.”
“We need help from our government to do a lot of things that has just not happened at all,” she added.
In government, a similar sentiment has been building for years. In 2022, Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody argued fentanyl could be weaponized and result in a mass-casualty scenario.
“The reality is that the deadliness of fentanyl combined with its shear (sic) availability in Mexico to criminal cartels and non-state actors makes it an increasingly likely weapon for use,” wrote Moody. Other lawmakers who called for a WMD classification include U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo. and U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo.
Despite the calls, there has been no nationwide move to redesignate the drug.
A 2019 paper from the Center for the Study of Weapons of Mass Destruction analyzed fentanyl as a chemical weapon, finding “that there is [not] any basis or need for, or net benefit to, officially designating fentanyl compounds as weapons of mass destruction.”
“Since fentanyl and several of its analogues are widely used for legitimate medical purposes, unlike traditional chemical warfare agents and some of their precursors, particular attention should be given to determining whether any explicit designation of fentanyl compounds as WMD would pose problems for the legitimate trade in fentanyl,” the paper adds.
Eric Reinhart, an anthropologist of law and public health and resident physician at Northwestern University, told Vice in 2022 that fentanyl has only become so toxic due to decades of prohibition. Further limitations and reclassification would only serve to exacerbate the problem.
Reinhart claimed a WMD declaration would only allow Pentagon dollars to fund “domestic war-making against the poorest Americans.”
The real solutions, according to Reinhart, include universal health care, regulated drug access and better scientific research.
“We have a mass casualty event in the U.S. already, and it’s not because of Russia or Colombia or any foreign nation. It’s because of U.S. criminal legal policies that have manufactured an absurd opioid overdose epidemic,” Reinhart told Vice.
