SAN FRANCISCO (CN) — A new law enforcement task force will focus on opioid-linked deaths and poisonings in San Francisco, state officials announced Friday.
The task force — comprised of the city’s police department, District Attorney’s Office, California Highway Patrol and California National Guard — will build on the existing partnership the state has with San Francisco over the fentanyl crisis. It’s expected to become operational in the new year.
Over the summer, Governor Gavin Newsom doubled the number of CHP officers in the city to heighten public safety and target the fentanyl crisis. Additionally, the California National Guard boosted its presence to help support the Northern California High-Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas program.
Friday’s announcement means the new task force will consider opioid deaths like homicide cases. It will use standard operating procedures when documenting opioid deaths and collecting the proper evidence. The information gathered will assist in mapping out the fentanyl’s source, target large crime syndicates and bring drug traffickers to justice.
“The opioid crisis has claimed too many, and fentanyl traffickers must be held accountable including, as appropriate, for murder,” Newsom said in a statement. “This task force is fighting for those affected by this crisis — for victims and loved ones who deserve peace. Working together, we will continue providing treatment and resources to help those struggling with substance use — and secure justice for families who have lost loved ones.”
Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid that’s like morphine, but 50 to 100 times more potent. It’s sometimes mixed with drugs like heroin and cocaine because only a small amount of fentanyl is needed to make someone high, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse.
The task force will work toward identifying and stopping opioid distribution networks in San Francisco through investigations, evidence gathering and analysis of data. Similar efforts in cities including San Diego and Fresno have been successful, with CalGuard analysts helping with the opioid-related death investigations.
“The new task force will equip the city and county of San Francisco with a deeply necessary investigative ability,” San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins said in a statement. “Traditionally, overdoses have not been investigated as murders. Now, working together we will be able to investigate fatal fentanyl overdoses where evidence may be collected to establish a connection to the person who provided the drugs that killed someone so that they can possibly be charged with murder.”
This month, Placer County became the first jurisdiction in the state to sentence someone on a fentanyl-related murder conviction. Nathaniel Cabacungan, 22, was arrested in August 2022 in connection with the death of a 15-year-old Roseville girl. He pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and was sentenced to 15 years to life in prison.
“Fentanyl is deadlier than any drug we've ever seen on our streets,” San Francisco Mayor London Breed said in a statement. “We must treat the trafficking and sale of fentanyl more severely and people must be put on notice that pushing this drug could lead to homicide charges.”
Not everyone is supportive of the task force.
Mary Sylla, policy director with the National Harm Reduction Coalition, said she was saddened and disheartened at the government response of what she called more criminalization toward opioid-involved deaths.
“Frankly, I’m apoplectic,” Sylla said. “I don’t understand why they keep going this route because there’s no evidence behind it.”
Sylla said what’s needed are community-based drug treatment options, not those based in jails. She also wants to see Naloxone — which can reverse an opioid overdose — get into the hands of people who use drugs, not stay behind the drug store counter.
Also needed is the legalization of overdose prevention centers, places where people can use drugs under the supervision of health professionals, Sylla said.
A bill written last legislative session by state Senator Scott Wiener, a San Francisco Democrat, would have allowed such sites in Los Angeles, San Francisco and Oakland. Newsom vetoed the bill.
Wiener declined comment about the task force through a spokesperson.
“People who use drugs don’t want to die, don’t want to overdose,” Sylla said. “This is the wrong tactic.”
HealthRIGHT 360 — a nonprofit that provides treatment for substance use disorders, mental health services and primary care to over 37,000 Californians — said in a release that the task force is a “regressive” return to punishing illegal drug use. Treating opioid deaths like homicides will stigmatize people facing substance use issues and could stop those who are looking for help.
Instead, San Francisco and California should use community-based solutions that will reduce the harm caused by drugs and help save people’s lives, the nonprofit said.
According to the governor’s office, fentanyl deaths have been on the rise in San Francisco. The state’s heightened law enforcement efforts, started in May, has led to 364 felony and misdemeanor arrests in the Tenderloin and nearby areas.
In 2020, 5,502 people died because of opioid overdoses in California, and 3,946 died because of fentanyl overdoses, Attorney General Rob Bonta’s office has said.
The country has seen three waves of an overdose epidemic over the past 30 years. The first was an increase in prescription opioid overdoses in the 1990s. That was followed by a climb in heroin deaths starting in 2010. The most recent is the increase in deaths from other illegal opioids like fentanyl.
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