WASHINGTON—Florida Congressman Carlos Gimenez (R) expressed his support of President Donald Trump’s recent executive order that classifies illicitly made fentanyl as a weapon of mass destruction (WMD).
“I think he is right to have proclaimed fentanyl as a weapon of mass destruction,” Gimenez said in an exclusive interview with The Floridian.
The order, “Designating Fentanyl as a Weapon of Mass Destruction”, describes illicit fentanyl as “closer to a chemical weapon than a narcotic” and emphasizes its extreme lethality.
While signing the order, President Trump also accused the U.S.’s adversaries of intentionally trafficking fentanyl into the U.S. to harm and kill Americans with drug addictions.
“There’s no doubt that America’s adversaries are trafficking fentanyl into the United States, in part because they want to kill Americans. If this were a war, it would be one of the worst wars,” Trump exclaimed.
Gimenez described drug cartels as “probably worse than Al-Qaeda and ISIS,” saying they use lethal amounts of fentanyl laced into other drugs trafficked into the United States.
“The drug cartels are responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Americans. So I consider them on the same footing or probably worse than Al-Qaeda and ISIS. Their weapon of choice is cocaine, a drug, and then they are laced with fentanyl. That's the killer,” Gimenez argued.
When asked about the drug trade, its major players, and notably how Venezuela plays a part in U.S. drug trafficking, the Congressman said “there's more than just Venezuela,” placing blame on Colombia and notably Mexico for lacing drugs with lethal doses of fentanyl.
“You know, there's more than just Venezuela. Colombia, obviously, but in my mind, there's Mexico. The Mexican drug cartels are the ones that actually lace it. I have issues with them too,” Gimenez concluded.
