WASHINGTON (NewsNation) — The Biden administration announced it is going after a number of people and businesses with sanctions as an important step in the fight against the fentanyl crisis raging across the country.
The U.S. Treasury Department announced Tuesday morning it is imposing sanctions on 17 separate companies and individuals based in China and Mexico for their roles in the fentanyl crisis and illegal drug trade within the U.S.
The targets of these new sanctions aren’t making the fentanyl themselves, the department said, but play an important role by supplying the drug producers with pill press machines and tools that help mold counterfeit markings on pills.
“Treasury’s sanctions target every stage of the deadly supply chain fueling the surge in fentanyl poisonings and deaths across the country,” said Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian E. Nelson. “Counterfeit pills laced with fentanyl constitute a leading cause of these deaths, devastating thousands of American families each year. We remain committed to using all authorities against enablers of illicit drug production to disrupt this deadly global production and counter the threat posed by these drugs.”
The department shared images of the machinery used to make these pills as well as images of the counterfeit pills. These fake markings are used as a way to sneak illicit drugs into the U.S.
As a result of the new sanctions, no company or person in the U.S. is allowed to do business without any of the 17 targets.
The Biden administration has been trying to crack down on fentanyl and other counterfeit drugs. There have also been efforts in Congress to consider fentanyl a national security threat, which would get the U.S. military and Department of Defense involved in the effort to combat the drug crisis.