Attorney General Pam Bondi shared a graph indicating a significant decrease in drug overdose deaths, which she attempted to attribute to the Trump administration's efforts. The graph, sourced from a June 2025 article in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), illustrated a rise in overdose deaths beginning in 2015, coinciding with the introduction of fentanyl into the drug market. The overdose rate peaked just before the COVID-19 pandemic during President Donald Trump's first term, plateauing in 2022 and 2023. However, from October 2023 to October 2024, under President Joe Biden's administration, the rate of overdose deaths began to decline sharply.

Despite the data indicating that the reduction in overdose deaths was nearly double the rate of the previous surge from 2019 to 2021, Bondi claimed the Trump administration was effectively addressing the drug epidemic. She stated, "President Trump closed the border. DOJ agents have seized hundreds of millions of potentially lethal fentanyl doses. We are aggressively prosecuting drug traffickers and cartel leaders. These are the results. Elections have consequences. Electing President Trump and enforcing the law is saving American lives."

Critics quickly pointed out that the graph's title clearly indicated it referred to a period before Trump took office. Democratic Representative Ted Lieu of California remarked that Bondi inadvertently credited Biden for the improvements. Following the backlash, Bondi deleted her post, although screenshots of the original were circulated.

Healthcare professionals have expressed concern that the progress made during Biden's term, which saw a 27 percent reduction in overdose deaths, may be jeopardized by Trump's spending bill that cut $1 billion from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has reportedly laid off a significant portion of SAMHSA's staff and is in the process of dissolving the agency.

Additionally, Trump has leveraged the drug crisis to justify military actions against small boats in the Caribbean and Pacific, resulting in numerous fatalities, and has targeted infrastructure in Venezuela. His administration has also linked tariffs on various products to the fentanyl crisis. However, Trump's approach has been complicated by his history of granting pardons to individuals convicted of drug-related offenses, including former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández and Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht, raising questions about the consistency of his policies regarding drug enforcement.