By Jessica Schladebeck
New York Daily News
SAN FRANSISCO — In the last six weeks alone, California Highway Patrol has seized enough fentanyl to wipe out the entire population of San Francisco nearly three times over, California Gov. Gavin Newsom revealed.
Since May 1, authorities have confiscated more than 4.2 kilos of fentanyl in the Tenderloin neighborhood as well as the immediate area surrounding San Francisco. The amount of fentanyl — an incredibly potent synthetic opioid — is enough to kill up to 2.1 million people.
According to the Drug Enforcement Administration, a lethal dose of the drug is 2 mg. Fentanyl is the leading driver of overdose deaths in the United States, as well as in San Francisco.
In the same timeframe, authorities have seized over 957 grams of methamphetamine, 319 grams of cocaine, and 31 grams of heroin and made 92 arrests — including on charges related to possession of fentanyl, illegal firearm possession, driving under the influence, and domestic violence, the governor said.
“I’m proud of the CHP and CalGuard’s lifesaving efforts to shut down the Tenderloin’s poison pipeline and hold drug traffickers accountable,” Newsom said in a statement on Thursday. “These early results show promise and serve as a call to action: We must do more to clean up San Francisco’s streets, help those struggling with substance use, and eradicate fentanyl from our neighborhoods.”
The drug seizures come after Newsom last month launched a public safety partnership between the city and state with the goal of “targeting fentanyl trafficking, disrupting the supply of the deadly drug in the city, and holding the operators of drug trafficking rings accountable,” according to Newsom’s office.
It has brought together multiple agencies, including the California Highway Patrol, the California National Guard, the California Department of Justice, the San Francisco Police Department and the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office.
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