US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen travels to Atlanta to make announcement on fight against fentanyl

US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen visited Atlanta on Thursday to announce efforts to combat fentanyl trafficking.

Yellen said the Treasury was imposing economic sanctions against eight cartel leaders in Mexico. She said cartels rely on banking systems to make payments and sanctions would disrupt the economic flow of fentanyl and other drugs.

“Our sanctions will deprive cartel leaders of their ill-gotten money and make it more difficult for them to bring deadly fentanyl onto our streets.“ she says.

Yellen said the Treasury Department also partners with private sector financial institutions to prevent cartels from laundering money through shell companies. She said the notice can help them detect cash flows that finance the fentanyl supply chain.

Drug cartels use banks to make payments, according to Yellen, so disrupting financial flows can inhibit the drug trafficking industry.

She was joined by law enforcement officials from downtown Atlanta when she made the announcement. US Attorney Ryan Buchanan also announced the indictment of two members of La Nueva Familia Michoacan, a drug cartel, in Georgia.

The announcements are part of a broader initiative by the Biden administration to combat drug trafficking, Yellen said.

Buchanan noted that Georgia has been hit hard by the opioid crisis.

“In 2023, the Georgia Department of Public Health reported more than 18,000 emergency department visits for drug-related overdoses in Georgia,” he said. “That’s about 50 emergency room visits every day.”

“Fentanyl and other synthetic opioids account for the majority of drug-related deaths,” he said.

Yellen also hosted a roundtable for business leaders in Atlanta, where she discussed drug trafficking prevention.

This story comes to Rough Draft via a media partnership with GPB News.