Sen. JD Vance (R-OH) called for the president in the near future to enable the military against the drug cartels in Mexico.

Vance, who has written about his own family experience with opioid abuse, appeared on NBC's Meet the Press Sunday, to call for more action to combat the fentanyl crisis. The Ohio senator pointed out that only one dose can be fatal, and the deadly drug is coming in large part from Mexico and China.

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"I want to empower the President of the United States, whether that's a Democrat or a Republican, to use the power of the US military to go after these drug cartels," Vance explained. "You think the fentanyl problem is bad now, what about three years from now when the Mexican drug cartels are more powerful than the Mexican government itself?"

"If we actually have some real American leadership, we can make some good progress here," Vance added.

When it came to China, Vance altered his strategy, suggesting that the US implement economic penalties instead, as the US is not likely to invade the Asian country.

"We can increase tariffs and extract a massive economic cost," Vance said. "I think the Biden administration should be doing exactly that."

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Vance expressed his disapproval of legalizing the drug, pointing to the failed attempts of municipalities like Portland, which legalized fentanyl in 2019 only to criminalize it again last month. The new legislation came as deaths from fentanyl increased every year in Portland from 2019 to 2021, reaching over 700 deaths in 2021. This number has nearly tripled since 2019.

There were only two pounds of fentanyl seized in all of 2013 compared to over 10,000 pounds seized last year alone along the ports of entry, per the Washington Examiner's Anna Giaritelli.