Call to classify drug weapon of mass destruction

The drug at the centre of the US opioid crisis could be classified as a weapon of mass destruction as part of efforts to halt a surge in deaths from overdoses.

The Department of Homeland Security argues that the ‘‘high toxicity and increasing availability’’ of fentanyl make it a candidate to be categorised as a non-conventional chemical weapon.

This would give customs officials and the FBI more power to inspect shipments and develop detection tools. Prosecutors would also have greater powers to punish smugglers or dealers.

A memo on the proposal said that the US military commander for Latin America, the source of many opioids smuggled into the US, backed the move.

The government is wrestling with a rise in opioid addiction that has claimed more lives than the Aids epidemic at its height.

There have been nearly 400,000 opioid overdose deaths since 1999 and more than a tenth of them were in 2017, official figures show.

Fentanyl was developed as a narcotic painkiller for cancer patients and is up to 100 times more potent than morphine.

The crisis began in the 1990s with widespread prescriptions of painkillers but has been fuelled by modifications in their chemical structures, which made them more potent.

Tablets are listed on the black market for as little as dollars 2 but the drug is far more profitable than heroin.

Dealers can import a kilogram from China for US$3000 and sell it in tiny batches for upwards of US$1.5 million, according to the Drug Enforcement Agency.

There is ‘‘a general consensus that fentanyl, in certain configurations, has properties that make it a chemical with the potential for mass casualty effects’’, according to the WMD memo, first published by the defence magazine Task & Purpose.

A Homeland Security official declined to say whether the discussions had progressed since the document was written in February.