North Carolina is cracking down on fentanyl with a new initiative aimed at stopping the money laundering behind the illicit industry. Attorney General Jeff Jackson is spearheading an effort with five other attorneys general in other states.The bipartisan, multi-state effort is targeting WeChat, a Chinese-owned, encryption-protected messaging platform. Jackson said WeChat is a platform where they believe money laundering is facilitated for funds that go into trafficking fentanyl from Mexico and China."When people think about money from drug sales, they think about duffel bags full of cash," Jackson said. "But more and more, it's those duffel bags full of cash existing in the digital space." He said there are thousands of WeChat users in North Carolina and fears a global network for fentanyl trafficking will impact American lives. With the fight against illicit substances, he said, it comes from all angles."We're attacking it on the addiction front and helping break that cycle," he said. "We're attacking it on the law enforcement front, and now we're attacking it on the level of international organized crime and money laundering."Just last year, three people were federally indicted in South Carolina on similar charges. All were accused of using WeChat to launder money from fentanyl sales. Jackson said with the collaboration of other states and law enforcement, there's no better time to crack down on fentanyl — on both the civil and criminal side."There is very strong evidence that WeChat is a safe haven for money laundering," Jackson said. "That is getting money, basically from the proceeds of sale of fentanyl to China, back to the cartels. Money laundering is the critical way that cartels are getting paid to repeat the cycle."Jackson said the attorneys general have given WeChat 30 days to respond about how they are going to hold users accountable for illegal trafficking and money laundering."In North Carolina, the state legislature last year passed a law that says if you knowingly facilitate money laundering, that is a crime," he said. "That's a new tool that I have as attorney general. But what we're basically telling WeChat is, hey, we're giving you 30 days to tell us what you are going to do specifically to stop this, to make sure that your platform can no longer be used for money laundering."He also wants families and youth to be aware of the dangers that persist with illicit substance use. He said nearly six overdose deaths occur every day, making overdoses the leading cause of death for people under age 45 in North Carolina."There's no such thing as safe experimentation with drugs. Don't let one small mistake ruin your life," Jackson said. "Fentanyl is in everything, including stuff that you don't think it's in. When police confiscate these drugs, whether it's meth or heroin or cocaine or pills like Adderall, they're finding fentanyl in 90 percent of it."