California seizes enough fentanyl in San Francisco to kill city’s population three times over

California law enforcement officials have seized enough fentanyl, in San Francisco alone, to cause the deadly overdoses of more than 2 million people since the beginning of May. The amount, over four kilos, was enough to kill the entire city’s population three times over, the governor’s office announced on Thursday.

The seizures were made by California highway patrol (CHP) officers and are a part of Gavin Newsom’s plan to address the spread of fentanyl, blight and public safety in the city where 268 people died from accidental overdoses in the first four months of 2023, according to a report from the city’s medical examiner. All of the fentanyl was found in and around San Francisco’s historic and long-embattled Tenderloin neighborhood.

In late April, after a deluge of criticism over the city and state’s response to the local fentanyl and homelessness crises, Gavin Newsom announced that the CHP, the state national guard and the attorney general’s office will aid San Francisco’s law enforcement to “focus on targeting fentanyl trafficking, disrupting the supply of the deadly drug in the city, and holding the operators of drug trafficking rings accountable”, the 28 April press release read.