Read the original article on the Atlantic Council website.
Today, the Department of the Treasury sanctioned the leaders of La Linea, a violent Mexican drug cartel responsible for trafficking fentanyl and other drugs to the United States. The designations are just the latest example of how the US government is trying to grapple with the fentanyl epidemic, which has become one of the top national security threats to the United States. It is one of the leading causes of death among young and middle-aged Americans, having killed nearly 75,000 Americans in 2023.
Financial partnerships between Chinese money laundering organizations (CMLO) and Mexican cartels have made it more challenging for US law enforcement agencies to track the movements of drug money. Financial sanctions have so far proven an effective tool in reducing the growth in crypto-denominated fentanyl sales and should be used more frequently by the US government to tactically disrupt the trade of fentanyl and other illicit drugs.
