Mexican Drug Cartel To Ban Production & Trafficking Of Fentanyl Under Threat Of Death

Source: Bill Oxford / Getty

You know things are bad out on these streets when even Mexican drug cartels are banning the production of fentanyl under the penalty of death.

Sounds like an oxymoron of sorts but according to the Wall Street Journal, that’s exactly what’s going on south of the border. El Chapo’s old Sinaloa Cartel is prohibiting the production and trafficking of fentanyl due to pressure from U.S. law enforcement. Apparently every other drug is fair game, though. The new order was handed down by El Chapo’s four sons (better known as the “Chapitos”) who have taken the reigns of the deadly cartel in place of their locked-down daddy.

The Wall Street Journal reports:

The directive from the most powerful faction within the criminal group aims to evade pressure from U.S. law enforcement, operatives say, though some U.S. officials are skeptical that the ban will endure.

The Biden administration is pushing the Mexican government to take more aggressive steps to dismantle the organization, considered by the U.S. to be the top fentanyl trafficking group. U.S. deaths from fentanyl have become an American political issue, with some Republicans, including lawmakers and others running for president, advocating to send the U.S. military into Mexico to fight criminal groups trafficking fentanyl.

For the many people in this northwestern Mexican region who make a living producing and smuggling an opioid that has killed tens of thousands of Americans, the message was clear: stop or die. In June, when the shift away from fentanyl began, three bodies covered with blue pills of the drug appeared on the outskirts of Culiacán.

Opioid and fentanyl was simply killing off too many people in communities that Republicans and company care about. Where was this kind of concern when the crack epidemic hit our neighborhoods like a tidal wave? Just sayin’.

Being that fentanyl production is about to drop like cryptocurrency stock, authorities expect the export of others drugs like cocaine, methamphetamine and heroine to rise in order to make up for the financial loss these cartels will suffer under their new directive. Regardless of how light their pockets will get, no one wants to cross the Chapitos as they’ve taken to spreading their message through banners being hung on billboards and overpasses in Mexico.

“In Sinaloa, the sale, manufacture, transport or any kind of business involving the substance known as fentanyl, including the sale of chemical products for its elaboration, is permanently banned,” the banners read, according to WSJ. “You have been warned. Sincerely yours, the Chapitos.”

Message received and noted.

What do y’all think of the Sinaloa Cartel deciding to fall back from their fentanyl production under the threat from U.S. authorities? Let us know in the comments section below.