Fox News Digital spoke with Joe Peters, a former federal mafia prosecutor and senior White House drug-policy official, on "narco-terror" tactics used by Mexican cartels.

For decades, the United States has fought the war on drugs as if it were exclusively a law enforcement issue. It never was. It has always had national security implications. 

After years of inaction, drugs now kill more Americans each year than every modern war combined. Fentanyl alone claimed more than 100,000 lives in 2021, a number that continues to rise despite billions spent on interdiction, prevention and policing. That is not a criminal nuisance. That is a sustained mass-casualty event inside the homeland.

President Donald Trump’s new approach finally treats the crisis for what it is. By designating major drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations and authorizing the use of military force against them, his administration has drawn a clear line between criminality and warfare. 

By designating major drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations and authorizing the use of military force against them, President Donald Trump has drawn a clear line between criminality and warfare. (@realDonaldTrump via Truth Social/AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

The cartels are not ordinary traffickers. They are transnational powers that control territory, wield military-grade arsenals and use terror as a tool of governance. In Trump’s words, they are "the ISIS of the Western Hemisphere."

TRUMP SENDS MILITARY AFTER THE CARTELS AND IT’S LONG OVERDUE

The numbers already........

© Fox News