Texas Governor Greg Abbott has signed an order designating drug cartels as "terrorists" and called on President Joe Biden to do the same.
At a news conference, Abbott referred to fentanyl traffickers, calling the drug an "underground killer."
"Texans are victims of the Mexican cartels that produce and import it. Therefore, the cartels are terrorists, and it's about time we start treating them as such," Abbott said.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott speaks at a news conference on September 13, 2022 in Houston, Texas.Getty Images
According to state government data, there is an 89% increase in fentanyl-related deaths in 2021 compared to 2020.
The president extolled that last year more Americans died from fentanyl poisoning than "from all the terrorist attacks in the world in the last 100 years."
He added that to save young people we must "get fentanyl off the streets."
[Identified Latina student who died after overdose in Hollywood. There are two arrested for the sale of pills with fentanyl]
"This is extraordinarily dangerous and could be a weapon of mass destruction imposed by the Mexican cartels," the Republican governor added.
How to protect your children from the risks of drugs like fentanyl?
Experts advise this
Sept.
17, 202202:39
Abbott also sent a letter to President Joe Biden inviting him to join this ranking.
“Fentanyl is a plague that is killing thousands of Americans.
Drug cartels are the main suppliers of this substance.
And the problem is a national emergency," read the letter.
In addition, Abbott extended the invitation to state agency leaders, ordering them to intensify efforts to combat the crisis.