Lot of democratically elected states are also good at "keeping fentanly out".

It’s way easier to keep fentanyl out of drugs when you are distributing the drugs.

The government can’t regulate a black market.

This is a bit of a straw man “do the ends justify the means” statement, with hints of anarchism read between the lines.

Western democracies haven’t really prioritized “war on drugs” (for lack of a better term) over the last probably 10ish years. Yeah there’s still funding and initiatives and some lip service.

Instead the focus has been largely infighting and major political factions fighting for political power in the next generation (“tech bros” political class for one)

So it’s no surprise state-sponsored (and just demand driven) drug trafficking into the US hasn’t received much action.

There is some hope though. With rare earth mineral access being a major national security priority, and many cartels controlling those areas in SA, the converging interests may produce some net positive. Background: https://youtu.be/q_n-74ifBZs?is=nw5g-mmPmKphGH2W

This is a false equivalence, which means equating two things based on surface similarities while ignoring key differences.

The Mafia keeping fentanyl out isn't a public service. It's a cartel protecting its own drug market, which says nothing about whether democratic states ( globally ) are failing their citizens.