So, what explains this Beijing move to censor speech when talking about the war on drugs. I don’t even like the war on drugs. It’s a total failure, a war we should have called quits on decades ago—but we still wage it. Yet, as it stands now, drugs are still pouring across the border. It’s part of the immigration and securing our borders crisis, so it’s somewhat different than jailing people for recreational use, but the Drug Enforcement Administration has sent out what looks like a ‘woke’ memo instructing agents to stop referring to the Mexican drug cartels as…Mexican drug cartels. The Daily Caller's Jennie Taer obtained a copy of the memo:
Officials at the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) have been directed by their headquarters to stop using the term “Mexican cartel” when speaking with the media, according to an email exclusively obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation from a government official.
A portion of the email sent mid-July stated: “Also, we need to now avoid saying ‘Mexican cartel’ or discussing the Mexican government or LE cooperation with Mexico. Please continue using ‘drug cartel,’ TCO, DTO, etc.”
[…]
The guidance came as the Mexican cartels continue surging drugs across the southern border and into the U.S. Between October and June, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) seized 358,302 pounds of drugs at the southwest border, including 8,093 pounds of lethal fentanyl.
Over the same time period in 2020, CBP seized 541,126 pounds of drugs at the U.S.-Mexico border. And over the 9-month period in 2019, CBP seized 498,281 pounds of drugs, and, during those months in 2018, they seized 677,179 pounds of drugs. The amount of fentanyl seized at the border has steadily increased throughout the last few years and the amount seized so far in 2021 has already exceeded what was captured in 2019 and 2020 combined.
This isn’t rocket science. A ton of drugs made by the cartels are pouring into the US from Mexico, but we just can’t say that they’re…Mexican drug cartels. They’re not Amish. They’re not Asian. This is an Obama holdover protocol. Just call it by something else and then it’s not a crisis anymore. Call it by something else to avoid dealing with this issue. It doesn’t make the problem go away, nor does it erase the ethnic or racial elements these woke liberals are so sensitive about. The Mexican drug cartels are a problem. There’s nothing wrong in saying that.