The White House said Tuesday it plans to crack down on illicit fentanyl traffickers by ramping up sanctions on anyone who uses the U.S. financial system to push the deadly synthetic opioid.
The administration said it would wield sanctions as part of a broad pledge to work more closely with international partners and U.S. law enforcement agencies in disrupting fentanyl supply chains and identifying parts, such as die molds, used to press the drug into pills.
“The Biden-Harris administration will expand its efforts to disrupt the illicit financial activities that fund these criminals by increasing accountability measures, including financial sanctions, on key targets to obstruct drug traffickers’ access to the U.S. financial system and illicit financial flows,” a White House fact sheet said.
The statement signaled an expansion of tools the Treasury Department used as recently as February when it sanctioned six Mexicans accused of fueling fentanyl super labs by diverting chemicals directly into the hands of the powerful Sinaloa cartel.
Illicit fentanyl has bedeviled multiple administrations since it began to flood the drug market in the middle of the last decade.
Mexican cartels are manufacturing illicit opioids, often with the use of chemicals from China, and trafficking them into the U.S. in powder or pill form.
Roughly 70,000 of the 107,000 overdose deaths in the U.S. were linked at least in part to fentanyl in 2021, the most recent year for which complete data is available.
The White House said other types of drugs dominated the drug supply not long ago, including plant-based drugs such as heroin and cocaine and illicit synthetic stimulants, namely methamphetamine.
“Today, the drugs most responsible for killing Americans are illicit synthetic opioids like fentanyl and its analogues, which are easier to produce and transport and also significantly more lethal,” the administration said Tuesday. “The nature of these drugs, and their ease of access and potency, presents a national security, public safety, and public health threat.”
The White House on Tuesday pledged to build a global coalition “to prevent illicit drug manufacturing, detect emerging drug threats, disrupt trafficking, address illicit finance, and respond to public safety and public health impacts.”
It outlined its efforts as Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador sends members of his cabinet to Washington this week to discuss joint efforts on fentanyl trafficking.
Congressional lawmakers say Mexico isn’t doing enough to combat fentanyl production within its borders.
Some Republican lawmakers want to label the Mexican cartels as terrorist groups or authorize the use of military force to destroy illicit labs, putting the cartels on par with the Islamic State.
GOP lawmakers also say lax border policies are fueling the crisis.
The administration and Democrats have pushed back by saying much of the flow of fentanyl comes through traditional ports of entry and they should ramp up screening and seizures.
The administration, in its statement Tuesday, reiterated a call for Congress to list illicit fentanyl-related substances as Schedule I drugs so everyone knows they have a high risk of abuse and that offenses are subject to harsh penalties.
“The administration continues to call on Congress to permanently schedule all illicitly produced fentanyl-related substances into Schedule I and to take other complementary actions to enhance public health and public safety,” the White House fact sheet said.
The House GOP is advancing a bill that would permanently schedule fentanyl substances, but the administration and Democrats say they want to refine the bill so that quantity-based offenses do not result in mandatory minimum criminal penalties.
Democrats say they don’t want to incarcerate their way out of the problem, but the GOP says they are being soft on traffickers.
• Tom Howell Jr. can be reached at thowell@washingtontimes.com.