Fentanyl and War: Fentanyl Narrative and Policy Developments since the mid-2010s

• In Event: Critical Issues in Policy and Governance

Abstract

In the mid-2010s, organizations like the Center for American Progress, the Ford Foundation, and the CATO Institute noted the failures of War on Drug policies or called for its end. However, with the emergence of fentanyl, the US government continues its criminalization approach to drugs. In March 2025, the United States Senate passed the bipartisan Halt All Lethal Trafficking (HALT) of Fentanyl Act, which puts a Schedule 1 classification on most fentanyl-related substances (FRS). The bill sets a mandatory minimum, 10-year prison sentence for offenses involving more than 100 grams of banned FRS. This act aligns with the broader narrative development surrounding fentanyl and state-wide policy trends. Since 2016, when the Drug Enforcement Administration announced that fentanyl can be absorbed through the skin or accidentally inhaled, political stakeholders have used fentanyl as a narrative tool to manufacture consent for, among other things, criminalizing the US/Mexico border, its adversarial approach to China, and continuing the War on Drugs. This paper traces the development and evolution of the fentanyl narrative and the emerging policies, as well as, more broadly, the military and prison industrial complexes, all the while criticism of the “failed” War on Drugs has largely dissipated.

Authors

• Brian Pitman, Lander University

• Ryan Phillips, Marshall University

• Stephen Toppings Young, Marshall University