Fentanyl Production Leaves Sinaloa

But that's not necessarily good news

This post is a collaboration between Ben Westhoff’s newsletter Drugs + Hip-Hop and Luis Chaparro’s newsletter Saga.

Last fall, news outlets reported that Mexico’s most powerful cartel was ceasing fentanyl production in its territory.

The Wall Street Journal’s story, “Mexican Sinaloa Cartel’s Message to Members: Stop Making Fentanyl or Die,” described threatening banners hung in public places shortly before U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador about the fentanyl crisis.

[A]bout a dozen banners ordering the fentanyl ban were hung from overpasses, billboards and construction sites in Culiacán. “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. “You have been warned. Sincerely yours, the Chapitos.”

The Chapitos, a powerful intra-cartel group led by the sons of El Chapo, apparently weren’t hesitating to kill those who violated the ban.

Yet when I first heard this, I didn’t believe it. It seemed incredibly improbable that the cartel would step away from distributing fentanyl, its most lucrative and versatile drug. U.S. officials were similarly skeptical, calling the move a public relations stunt.

Now, about four months after the banners began flying, the truth of the matter is coming into focus…