Biden mistakenly orders blanket fentanyl ban in another huge gaffe after age debate

President Biden has once again come under fire, this time for ordering a blanket fentanyl ban.

The president called for the controversial drug to be made a Schedule I drug, which would end common medical uses, before aides clarified that he only wants to restrict fentanyl-related compounds.

About 200,000 Americans have died during Biden’s term from synthetic opioids, shipped largely from China, and Biden made the remark while seeking to put the ball back in Congress’s court after criticism from Republicans.

“Look, I also urge Congress to permanently make fentanyl and related substances Schedule I drugs,” Biden said at a White House meeting with executive branch officials following a summit last week with Chinese President Xi Jinping — who agreed to halt exports of the drugs, even though his prior pledges didn’t slow a surge in US deaths.

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President Joe Biden and Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador pledged to work side-by-side to confront illicit fentanyl trafficking into the U.S. and to manage the growing number of migrants traveling north to the border between their nations.

“Nothing is beyond our reach in my view if Mexico and the United States stand together and work together,” Biden said.

Biden’s relationship with López Obrador has at times been tense, in part because of Biden’s willingness to criticize Mexico on topics such as fentanyl production. And López Obrador isn’t afraid to snub the U.S. leader.

He skipped a Los Angeles summit last year where leaders tackled the issue of migration because the U.S. didn’t invite Cuba, Nicaragua, or Venezuela. He also initially said he would skip this year’s APEC conference, but changed his mind.

They discussed deadly fentanyl trafficking, particularly after Biden secured an agreement with Xi to curb the illicit opioid. Mexico and China are the primary sources of synthetic fentanyl trafficked into the U.S. Nearly all the chemicals needed to make it come from China, and the drugs are then mass-produced in Mexico and trafficked via cartels into the U.S.

“I want to tell you about my great conversation with Xi Jinping on that issue,” Biden told López Obrador.

The issues of fentanyl and immigration are related. Human smuggling over the border is a part of cartel operations that also include drug trafficking into the U.S.

“We’re working side-by-side to combat organized crime,” Biden said.