California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) has decided to deploy the National Guard and others in San Francisco in an effort to "disrupt" the city's fentanyl trafficking problem.
Newsom made the announcement on Friday.
The announcement reads:
Today Governor Gavin Newsom announced an agreement between the California Highway Patrol (CHP), California National Guard (CalGuard), San Francisco Police Department (SFPD), and the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office (SFDA) to assist the city in its ongoing efforts to address the fentanyl crisis.
The four agencies, according to the announcement, will work at "dismantling fentanyl trafficking and disrupting the supply of the deadly drug in the city by holding the operators of large-scale drug trafficking operations accountable."
This comes a day after Newsom received some bad press on this very issue.
On Thursday, Newsom was walking the streets the San Francisco when a local man asked him "Hey Gavin, tell me watcha going to do about the fentanyl epidemic?"
For those unfamiliar with the situation, San Francisco, among other problems, has a drug problem. And, fentanyl, in particular, is causing many deaths. There, in fact, has been a 40% jump in fentanyl-linked overdose deaths from January through March of 2023.
So, the man's question was a particularly important one. Yet, Newsome did not seem to have an answer. He simply replied, "What should I do, J.J.? You tell me what we need to do. That's why I'm here."
Newsom was criticized for the remark, considering that he is the governor. It was less than a day later that Newsom announced:
Newsome, in conjunction with the above announcement, released a statement on the matter.
Newsome said:
Two truths can co-exist at the same time: San Francisco’s violent crime rate is below comparably sized cities like Jacksonville and Fort Worth — and there is also more we must do to address public safety concerns, especially the fentanyl crisis. We’re taking action.
San Francisco, of course, is a city whose residents support liberal politics, and this explains why Newsom is clearly trying to walk such a fine line with this statement.
Newsom continued:
Through this new collaborative partnership, we are providing more law enforcement resources and personnel to crack down on crime linked to the fentanyl crisis, holding the poison peddlers accountable, and increasing law enforcement presence to improve public safety and public confidence in San Francisco.
It will be interesting to see how the residents of San Francisco respond to the increased law enforcement considering that they tend to support the opposition proposition.
