'Zombie City' San Francisco, "Drug Dealer Charged with Murder"

619 Deaths as of Last September
Task Force Formed with Prosecution, Police, and Defense Forces

San Francisco, California, known as the "Zombie City" due to a surge in drug addicts, has launched a major crackdown on drugs.

A citizen collapsed on the street. [Image source=Captured from Gavin Newsom, Governor of California's Twitter]

According to foreign media including CNN on the 28th (local time), Gavin Newsom, Governor of California, announced that the day before, he formed a dedicated task force with the city of San Francisco to crack down on drug overdoses. The formation of this dedicated task force is due to the serious social problem caused by the increasing number of deaths from drug overdoses in San Francisco.

The task force is composed of personnel from the San Francisco Police Department, local prosecutors, the California Highway Patrol, and the National Guard.

The task force has been granted the authority to investigate fatal drug overdoses as homicide cases. Accordingly, dealers will be prosecuted on murder charges.

The state government emphasized, "The task force will treat drug-related deaths occurring in San Francisco as homicide cases to collect evidence and investigate criminal organizations."

Prosecutors are particularly targeting fentanyl dealers.

Fentanyl is a powerful painkiller but is highly addictive and is called the so-called "zombie drug." Overdose can lead to death. It is known that fentanyl is the leading cause of death among young and middle-aged adults aged 18 to 45 in the United States.

According to city data, there were 647 deaths from unintentional drug overdoses in the past year. This year, 619 deaths have occurred up to September, raising concerns that the number may surpass last year's level.

Meanwhile, in August, the famous American department store chain Nordstrom withdrew from downtown San Francisco.