Last November, I signed an executive order that directed greater law enforcement and legislative action to address the proliferation of illicit fentanyl. 

When I issued my executive order last fall, I did so with the recognition of the immense human toll this dangerous drug was having – how illicit fentanyl is destroying lives and families and supercharging our homelessness crisis.  

Last year, in the City of San Diego alone, 410 people died of fentanyl overdose. This is a 800% increase over five years prior, when 45 people were killed by the drug in 2018. Further, fentanyl overdose was the No. 1 cause of death of people experiencing homelessness, with 181 lives lost to the drug in 2022. 

I’m pleased to report that with the direction provided in the executive order, we are stepping up enforcement against the peddlers of this poison. The San Diego Police Department has increased fentanyl-related arrests by 53% in the city of San Diego  

That’s thanks to San Diego Police Department Chief David Nisleit’s leadership and the great work of SDPD’s Narcotics Division – along with enhanced cooperation and coordination with our local, state and federal law enforcement partners.  

Their work was done in coordination with the Regional Fentanyl Task Force – which, after the roundtable I hosted with state Attorney General Rob Bonta in October, now has two additional investigators from the AG’s office. 

Under my executive order, we are also prioritizing several initiatives funded by proceeds from a legal settlement with opioid manufacturers. They include: 66 shelter beds with drug treatment services in partnership with the County of San Diego, laser fentanyl-detection devices that our Police Department will use to test for fentanyl in the field, and a jail diversion program to get low-level users into treatment.  

Another outcome of the enhanced enforcement and cooperation on fentanyl is that prosecutions for fentanyl-related crime in the region are on the rise. Prosecutions rose by 1,000 percent between 2018 and 2022, and cooperation with our federal counterparts has gotten stronger. 

Since last year, the District Attorney has prosecuted well over two dozen people for selling drugs to a person who overdosed, and federal prosecutors have pursued nearly 20 cases against dealers of lethal doses of fentanyl. 

While law enforcement is great, we also have pushed for stronger laws to prosecute against. This past legislative session, we made a major push in Sacramento for tougher penalties against dealers who sell fentanyl that results in an overdose, making it possible to charge these craven dealers with murder. 

I’m grateful for the partnership of state legislators Senator Tom Umberg (of Orange County) and San Diego’s own Assemblymember Brian Maienschein, who introduced these bills that rightly treat overdoses as poisonings. And while we didn’t get them across this finish line this last legislative session, make no mistake: I am undeterred and determined to pursue meaningful state action to address fentanyl and am talking to Senator Umberg about reintroducing Alexandra’s law. 

Because here’s the thing: Anyone who deals fentanyl knows they’re putting someone on a path to addiction, destruction, and death. And they should be penalized accordingly. 

I will also be leading the charge to support the Governor’s legislative efforts to increase penalties on tranq, a Narcan-resistant mix of fentanyl and xyzlazene that’s driving even more deaths. 

We have a lot left to do to get this crisis under control. But at all levels of government, we are treating illicit fentanyl as the scourge that it is and working together to end the death and destruction it’s causing in our communities.