In Ohio, legislation that urges the Secretary of Homeland Security to designate non-pharmaceutical fentanyl a weapon of mass destruction (WMD) has started to move again. Senate Concurrent Resolution 1 cleared the Senate in February and was referred to the House Committee on Community Revitalization, but then no further action was taken. On October 14, the committee granted the bill its first hearing.
“[T]he Trump Administration has wisely seen fit to designate [fentanyl-distributing] cartels as Foreign Terrorist Organizations,” sponsor Senator Terry Johnson (R) stated in his October 14 testimony. “Foreign actors have also used fentanyl explicitly as a tool of war.”
At both the state and federal level, legislators have been trying to get fentanyl designated as a WMD for years. In January Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) introduced the “Fentanyl is WMD Act,” the text of which is only slightly longer than the title; it remains in committee. A West Virginia anti-terrorism bill that would have declared fentanyl a WMD died in April. The Ohio resolution is itself a reintroduction of the unsuccessful “Stop Our Scourge (SOS) Act of 2023.”
Like all other calls to designate fentanyl a WMD, the resolution’s best and also only example showing that this threat exists is the 2002 Moscow theater hostage crisis. Approximately 900 people were trapped in the Dubrovka Theatre by Chechen rebels, for almost three days. Russian special forces neutralized the attack by pumping a narcotic gas into the ventilation system. More than 125 of the hostages died.
The chemical makeup of that gas has never been formally confirmed, but forensic analysis indicated that it contained the potent fentanyl analogs carfentanil and remifentanil. The number of deaths attributed to the gas rather than to gunshot wounds or other causes has also never been confirmed, but it’s understood to be the vast majority. The forensic scientists who performed the analysis concluded that the deaths were caused by “a combination of the aerosol and inadequate medical care”—naloxone could have greatly reduced the casualties.
There are no other credible reports of any fentanyl analogs being deployed as chemical weapons.
In 2017, former CIA Deputy Director Michael Morell penned a call to action to declare fentanyl a WMD, leaning heavily on the 2002 Moscow attack and implying that carfentanil was becoming a main driver of overdose in the United States.
“It is a weapon of mass destruction,” he wrote. “Indeed, carfentanil is the perfect terrorist weapon. It is readily available in large quantities. It comes in several forms—including tablets, powder and spray. It can be absorbed through the skin or through inhalation. It acts quickly. And, it is deadly… In short, a single terrorist attack using carfentanil could kill thousands of Americans.”
Some of these claims are untrue and the rest are not specific to carfentanil; just because a substance is known for high potency doesn’t make it conducive to chemical warfare. It is physically possible to deploy fentanyl analogs as chemical weapons, yes, but there’s no real reason for anyone to do so.
Beyond the 2002 Moscow attack there are no other credible reports of any fentanyl analogs being deployed as chemical weapons. But the over the past few years various legislators and law enforcement officials have essentially willed a body of evidence into existence, by just talking about it a lot.
The Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority has an active contract with pharmaceutical manufacturer Indivior PLC to maintain a stockpile of the company’s wildly unpopular opioid-overdose antidote Opvee, in case of a “chemical mass casualty threat … if [fentanyl is] purposely released as a chemical weapon.” The Food and Drug Administration approved a naloxone auto-injector the Department of Defense to use in the same hypothetical circumstances, though unlike Opvee it appears to have actually been discontinued.
An independent bipartisan commission stated in 2022 that in “terms of loss of life and damage to the economy, illicit synthetic opioids have the effect of a slow-motion weapon of mass destruction in pill form.” That report is now cited often, including by law enforcement associations supportive of the Ohio resolution.
The resolution also throws in a claim that the CDC has stated fentanyl is being mixed with marijuana.
For good measure, the Ohio resolution has also thrown in a claim that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has stated fentanyl is being mixed with marijuana, in addition to other substances like heroin and cocaine. While it’s possible that the CDC has made some statement to this effect at some point—large federal agencies aren’t always consistent with their messaging—it would not exactly be representative. Typical CDC messaging is to list all the same drugs that the bill did, except marijuana.
Though stories about “fentanyl-laced marijuana” appear constantly in the media, these are invariably based on irresponsible reporting and often get debunked down the line. To date there is no evidence that fentanyl is being added to the unregulated marijuana supply.
Even a widely publicized statement by Connecticut public health officials in 2021, announcing “the first lab confirmed case of marijuana with fentanyl in Connecticut and possibly the first confirmed case in the United States,” was later walked back. After the discovery was prematurely initially linked to dozens of overdoses, it was determined to be a single case of minor cross-contamination among people who also used opioids—neither intentional nor indicative or a larger pattern.
Image (cropped) via United States Government Accountability Office