WASHINGTON, D.C, – Today, Senator Jim Banks (R-Ind.) applauded President Trump’s decision to designate fentanyl as a “weapon of mass destruction,” as part of efforts to stop the deadly threat posed by narco-terrorists.
Senator Banks’ first bill in the 119th Congress was the Countering Beijing’s Weaponization (CBW) of Fentanyl Act. This legislation would amend the Chemical and Biological Weapons Control and Warfare Elimination Act of 1991 to define fentanyl and fentanyl precursors as chemical and biological weapons in U.S. law. This bill would also sanction Chinese Communist Party officials for refusing to curb the flow of fentanyl precursors to the United States.
Senator Jim Banks (R-Ind.) said, “Declaring fentanyl a weapon of mass destruction is a critical step to combating the deadly flow of poison coming into our country. President Trump is fighting back against the CCP and narco-terrorists who want to kill our kids.”
Full text of the bill can be found here.
Read more about Senator Banks’ bill here.
Senator Jim Banks previously introduced the Countering Beijing’s Weaponization (CBW) of Fentanyl Act last year as a member of the House of Representatives.
Additionally, then-Rep. Banks introduced the Stop CCP Fentanyl Act, which aimed to sanction Chairman Xi and China unless they halted fentanyl exports. His amendment to the Fiscal Year 2024 National Defense Authorization Act, requiring the Department of Defense to determine whether PRC officials assisted in or were aware of the transportation of fentanyl precursors to Mexican drug cartels, was signed into law.
2,130 Hoosiers lost their lives to overdoses in 2023, with the primary cause being fentanyl.
In 2023, the DEA seized over 80 million fentanyl-laced counterfeit pills and nearly 12,000 pounds of fentanyl powder—equivalent to more than 390 million lethal doses.
