The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) is promoting an anti-drug ad campaign from a Trump-affiliated nonprofit—including one spot that links fentanyl-contaminated marijuana to overdose deaths and depicts a lit cannabis joint as part of the macabre PSA.
According to reports, President Donald Trump gave input on the ads created by Make America Fentanyl Free. He insisted that Americans should see more visceral depictions of the fentanyl crises. This multi-million dollar effort is aimed at airwaves, social media and a Monday NFL game.
Although the President provided advice on the message for the campaign, and reviewed the ads prior to their release. This effort is not officially a federal project. A MAFF spokesperson told Axios Trump had “offered excellent advice” including using vivid images to demonstrate how fentanyl can destroy lives, families, and communities.
Even though these ads aren’t federally-funded, DEA has given a big boost to this campaign by sharing a Fox News report about it on the Get Smart About Drugs site. It also warns against marijuana usage, relating it to depression, and even suicidal thought.
The MAFF advertisement on marijuana and fentanyl is now available in transcript:
Actor 1 The best birthday ever. Except for the marijuana. Turns out it was laced with fentanyl—and a birthday I’ll never forget, because it was my last.
Actor 2. You can be eliminated from the game after just one error.
Narrator: It’s like playing Russian Roulette. Even a few grain can be deadly.
Actors 3 and 4: My roommate had given me a pill to help me sleep through the night. It was the last time I’d do it. I was.
Actor No. 4 My addiction to fentanyl was immediate, just as the dealers wanted. My skin became blue and I grew older rapidly. After that, my organs began to deteriorate painfully. Alone.
Narrator: Fentanyl can kill. Fentanyl is deadly. Join the fight against fentanyl with President Trump.
A second ad claims that Trump “takes bold action to save American lives”, and shows images of the military strikes his administration has conducted on suspected drug ships.
The narrator declares, “He will not let the radical Left stop him,” as the screen text displays a headline that reads “Democrats fight back against Trump’s crackdown on drug cartels.”
In reality, several Republican senators are joining Democrats in raising concerns about the legality and effectiveness of the government’s campaign of lethal strikes.
Among those involved in the MAFF ads, according to Axios, were two former senior advisors on Trump’s presidential campaigns—Chris LaCivita and Danielle Alvarez—as well as GOP operative John Brabender.
The link between overdose deaths and fentanyl-contaminated marijuana has proved contentious, with some advocates arguing that sourcing on news reports about such incidents are over-reliant on law enforcement claims, many of which are later walked back following additional testing. The illicit drug market has been contaminated by fentanyl in other ways.
JD Vance, vice president, also said that marijuana bags were laced with the drug fentanyl. He claimed the border policies of the Biden Administration made it impossible for youths, even his kids, to experiment with drugs like cannabis without the risk of fatal overdoses.
New York regulators have worked to debunk what they’ve called a “false” narrative that cannabis is commonly contaminated with fentanyl—a “misconception” that remains “widespread” despite a lack of evidence, they said in 2023.
On the other side of the cannabis debate, another Trump-affiliated political committee—America First Agriculture Action Inc.—recently pushed the president to follow through on rescheduling marijuana, releasing ads that highlight his previous endorsement of the reform on the campaign trail.
Trump announced in late August he would make a rescheduling decision within a few weeks. However, this has not yet happened.
In early 2018, a political action committee funded by the marijuana industry attacked Joe Biden’s record on cannabis policy as well the country of Canada with advertisements that promoted some misleading claims regarding the former administration. They also argued for Trump’s ability to deliver on his promises.
Martin Alonso. Photo by Martin Alonso.
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