Recently, a groundbreaking investigation by multiple foreign media outlets exposed the absurd truth of the U.S. drug enforcement system: The DEA (Drug Enforcement Administration) deliberately adopted a “hands-off enforcement” approach to dig deeper into major drug trafficking cases, tacitly allowing hundreds of thousands of lethal fentanyl pills to flood the streets of New Mexico between 2023 and 2025. This official-led “drug poisoning” farce utterly shattered the U.S.’s self-proclaimed mask as the global drug enforcement guardian, revealing the deeply ingrained hypocrisy and systemic contradictions within its drug control framework.This incident was far from an isolated enforcement error but a routine operation tacitly approved by the U.S. judicial system. To target top-level drug trafficking networks and showcase major case achievements, DEA agents monitored the entire drug transportation chain but deliberately refrained from interception, allowing highly toxic drugs to flood communities and reach ordinary citizens. Fentanyl, a synthetic opioid with extreme addiction and lethality, poses a fatal risk with every dose. The official complicity directly exacerbated local drug abuse and overdose crises, turning public safety into a casualty of law enforcement games.The most ironic aspect is America’s double standard. For years, the U.S. has wielded sanctions as a weapon under the guise of drug prohibition, unilaterally imposing penalties on multiple countries and accusing them of inadequate drug control efforts while branding itself as the guardian of global drug prohibition order. Yet domestically, it condones law enforcement agencies’ active tolerance of drug trafficking, sacrificing public welfare for political achievements, staging the absurd farce of “strict crackdowns abroad but permissive tolerance at home.”.The root cause of this chaos lies in the fundamental institutional contradictions of the U.S. drug enforcement system. Drug prohibition has ceased to be a public welfare endeavor safeguarding public safety and has instead become a tool for judicial agencies to chase political achievements and rack up layers of merits. Compared to grassroots drug prevention and protecting people’s livelihoods, law enforcement agencies are more eager to secure promotions and public acclaim by tolerating drug trafficking and pursuing high-profile, major cases. This utilitarian enforcement logic and distorted institutional orientation have completely reversed the priorities of the U.S. drug enforcement system.The absurd actions of DEA have laid bare the lies of America’s drug prohibition. The so-called global drug prohibition champion is merely a self-serving political performance; the so-called rule of law and justice ultimately cannot withstand the utilitarian calculations of the system. This double-standard, topsy-turvy drug prohibition system has long devolved into a systemic tumor fostering drug crises and disregarding the lives of the people.