9 million lethal doses of fentanyl seized in San Francisco in 2023

SAN FRANCISCO – The California Highway Patrol (CHP) has seized more than 40 pounds of fentanyl – equivalent to over 9 million lethal doses of the drug – in San Francisco in 2023, California Governor Gavin Newsom has announced.

The CHP has also issued more than 4,468 citations leading to 428 arrests for illegal activity and recovered more than a dozen crime-linked guns since the state’s joint public safety partnership with the City of San Francisco began on May 1, 2023.

The California Highway Patrol seized over 40 pounds of fentanyl – over 9 million lethal doses of the drug — in San Francisco since the state’s joint public safety partnership with the City of San Francisco began on May 1, 2023. FILE PHOTO

“We’re cleaning up San Francisco’s streets,” Newsom said in a statement released last week.

“Working alongside our local and federal partners, the CHP is seizing more drugs and more illegal guns and providing the safety and security every Californian deserves.”

Officers had been deployed in multiple teams in San Francisco’s Tenderloin neighborhood and surrounding areas.

In June, Newsom doubled the number of deployed CHP officers and recently announced a new joint law enforcement task force to investigate opioid-linked deaths and poisoning in the city. The task force will begin its work this year.

In addition, CHP has taken part in the Drug Enforcement Administration’s “Operation Surge” and locally led operations targeting drug traffickers.

The CHP’s operation in San Francisco was in collaboration with multiple agencies, including the California National Guard (CalGuard), the California Department of Justice, the San Francisco Police Department and the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office.

The joint effort was focused on improving public safety, cracking down on operators of drug trafficking rings and disrupting the fentanyl supply chain.

The operation builds on the Governor’s “Master Plan for Tackling the Fentanyl and Opioid Crisis,” which includes an expansion of CalGuard-supported operations that last year led to a 594 percent increase in seized fentanyl and historic levels of funding — $1 billion statewide — to crack down on the crisis.

In Los Angeles County, fentanyl has surpassed methamphetamine as the leading cause of overdose deaths, according to a recent report from the LA County Department of Public Health.

Overdoses have increased this past year, further escalating a crisis fueled by the opioid epidemic that has devastated communities across the nation.