President Biden signed an Executive Order authorizing the Secretary of the Treasury to impose sanctions on foreign persons engaged in drug trafficking. The President declared that international drug trafficking poses an "unusual and extraordinary" threat to U.S. national security and the country's economy.

President Biden asserted that drug cartels, transnational criminal organizations and their facilitators are the "primary sources" of illicit drugs and chemicals fueling the current opioid epidemic and drug-related violence. He authorized the Secretary of the Treasury - in consultation with the Secretary of State, Attorney General, and Secretary of Homeland Security - to impose sanctions on foreign persons engaged in drug trafficking, including those who:

• engage or attempt to engage in activities or transactions that materially contribute to illegal drug trafficking;

• knowingly receive property that constitutes or is derived from proceeds of illegal drug trafficking;

• knowingly receive property that was intended to be used to facilitate drug trafficking; or

• provide financial, material or technological support, or goods or services, to those engaged in drug trafficking.

Under the Executive Order, a menu of sanctions may be imposed on designated persons, including the blocking of their property and interests in property in the United States, and prohibitions on U.S. financial institutions from making loans or providing credit to them.

Primary Sources

1. Executive Order on Imposing Sanctions on Foreign Persons Involved in the Global Illicit Drug Trade