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

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

“Our sanctions will cut off the cartel leaders from their ill-gotten money, and make it harder for them to bring deadly fentanyl to our streets,“ she said. 

Yellen said the Department of Treasury is also partnering with private sector financial institutions to stop cartels from laundering money through shell companies. She said the advisory can help them detect cash flows that fund the fentanyl supply chain.

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

She was joined by law enforcement leaders in downtown Atlanta as she made the announcement. U.S. Attorney Ryan Buchanan also announced the indictments of two members of La Nueva Familia Michoacan, a drug cartel, in Georgia.

The announcements are part of a larger push from the Biden administration to combat drug trafficking, Yellen said.

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

“In 2023, Georgia’s Department of Public Health reported over 18,000 emergency room visits for drug-related overdoses in Georgia,” he said. “That’s approximately 50 ER visits every day.”

“Fentanyl and other synthetic opioids make up the majority of drug relate deaths,” he said. 

Yellen also held 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.