The Justice Department will accept a request from former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., to help fight fentanyl trafficking in San Francisco as part of the federal initiative "Operation Overdrive."
The Justice Department launched Operation Overdrive last year in response to rising rates of overdose deaths and violent crime related to drugs. The Drug Enforcement Administration leads the initiative, which coordinates with multiple federal agencies as well as state and local law enforcement.
The San Francisco Medical Examiner reported earlier this month that the city recorded 346 overdose deaths between January and May of this year, with fentanyl being the cause of 275 of those overdoses.
"The designation of Operation Overdrive for San Francisco is welcome news and a strong step forward to combat fentanyl trafficking," Pelosi, whose congressional district includes San Francisco, said in a statement. "The immense human cost of overdose is heartbreaking: stealing lives, tearing families apart, and shattering communities."
She added: "Powered by a data-driven approach, Operation Overdrive will help our City address this tragedy by targeting the criminals who are doing the most harm, removing deadly fentanyl from our streets and reducing related violence.
"I am grateful to Attorney General [Merrick] Garland and the Justice Department for their swift consideration and approval of San Francisco for this life-saving initiative and look forward to its implementation."
"We've said San Francisco has a fentanyl crisis and the DEA's No. 1 role on this is to save lives," said Brian Clark, special agent in charge of the DEA's San Francisco Field Division, in a statement to a local ABC affiliate. "We will be out there identifying, conducting surveillance, conducting search warrants and arresting drug traffickers."
He continued, "We are teaming up as a whole of government approach with San Francisco police with the new resources that Gov. [Gavin] Newsom just put in with the California Highway Patrol and National Guard."
Theodore Bunker ✉
Theodore Bunker, a Newsmax writer, has more than a decade covering news, media, and politics.
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