The U.S. Department of Homeland Security might class fentanyl , a highly addictive pain reliever that ’s at the centre of American ’s opioid epidemic , as a weapon of aggregated destruction , according to a leaked document obtained by military - focused news program siteTask & Purpose .
Task & Purpose obtain an interior DHS memo titled “ Use of counter - WMD authorities to battle fentanyl , ” that was prepared by James F. McDonnell , the DHS assistant secretary for countering arm of mass destruction , who describes the opioid drug as a possible “ mass casualty weapon ” that is “ attractive to threat player seeking nonconventional materials for a chemical weapons attack . ”
McDonnell is reportedly ground this appraisal on a judgment from the FBI ’s Weapons of Mass Destruction Directorate from July of 2018 . But whatever report McDonnell is referencing has n’t been made public .
CBP officers from the Office of Field Operations and agents from the U.S. Border Patrol and Air and Marine Operations run exercises at the U.S-Mexico border at the San Ysidro Port of Entry on November 22, 2018Photo: (CBP photo by Shawn Moore)
Fentanyl is a semisynthetic opioid that can be anywhere from 50 to 100 times more sinewy than morphine and its use has skyrocketed in the 2010s . The pain medicine is prescribed by MD for severe pain , but it ’s become popular as an illicit drug because it ’s incredibly gimcrack to bring forth . Roughly 59 pct of opioid - link up deaths in 2017 were induce by fentanyl , harmonise to the National Institute on Drug Abuse . In 2010 , it was just14 percent .
Why would DHS need to classify a anodyne as something akin to a atomic weapon system ? The short response is that everything is just stupefied now , as the Trump regime becomes more tyrannical with each make it day . ( earnestly , President Trump just openly verbalize aboutgetting disembarrass of judgesand masses scarce clobber an eye . ) But the foresightful answer might have to do with how investment trust are allocate at the Department of Homeland Security . If DHS can classify fentanyl as a weapon of aggregate destruction it can take money that was primarily signify for critical national security initiatives and reapportion those dollars toward what is basically drug enforcement and perhaps even border shelter , a topic that ’s particularly important right now to our racist chairperson .
For their part , DHS wo n’t confirm or deny the plan to classify fentanyl as a arm of aggregate destruction .
“ DHS is always appraise novel and emerging threat that may touch on the nation ’s security , ” a DHS official who did n’t want to be named told Gizmodo via email . “ We coordinate closely with partners at DOD , DOJ , and throughout the interagency to better protect the American people . We will not comment on the specific of these word . ”
Yes , it ’s entirely possible that terrorists could use fentanyl for a chemic artillery attack . But they could also use LSD or mescaline or wizardly mushrooms or literally any other drug that humans use recreationally or medically . There was a ton of interest group in how these drugs might be used foroffensive purposes during the first Cold War , and there ’s no uncertainty that spate of multitude are imagining ways to use psychotropic drugs in the New Cold War .
“ do work in mystifying secrecy , U.S. scientists almost overnight have developed an armory of fantastic novel arm , variously lie with as psychotic person - chemicals and ‘ rabidness ’ gases , which could near paralyze an enemy nation without firing a blastoff , ” as the Associated Press described in 1959 .
Task & Purpose has published the full memoon its internet site , and in so doing has charter some heat from government official . The tale behind the story , in this case , is even more interesting , as the author of the original account , Paul Szoldra , took to Twitter yesterday to excuse that DHS was very unhappy about the clause .
“ Just induce a call from a DHS spokeswoman to kvetch about my tale today , on the agency ’s thoughtfulness of Sublimaze as a weapon of mass death . She argued about my inclusion of the memo in the story for about 2 minute , before say ‘ manifestly this is all off record book , ’ ” Szoldraexplained .
The DHS representative told Szoldra that the memorandum was “ classified , ” despite the fact that it really is n’t . The memo is just labeled as “ For Official Use Only ” which does n’t make it classify . And even if it was , he ’s a reporter who has every right to write document that are of interest to the world . Szoldra turn down to take the memorandum down , even as he got pressure from the government .
“ … we went around in R-2 , ” Szoldra said . “ I enunciate I was n’t taking anything down . My disceptation : I attain out for comment last week , gave you equal time to react to a bunch of enquiry , and you all wane to comment . ”
[ Task & Purpose ]
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