SF advancing plan to charge dealers with murder in opioid-linked deaths

San Francisco city leaders are moving forward with a plan to charge drug dealers with murder in opioid-linked deaths.

This comes as calls for change continue in how the city deals with the opioid epidemic.

City leaders are in the final stages of assembling a task force to investigate opioid-linked deaths as homicides. Mayor London Breed and other city officials made the joint announcement about creating a task force in October.

San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins says the task force will be fully operational early this year.

Jenkins has also reiterated the need to attack the city’s opioid crisis from all levels, including prosecuting dealers for the lives fentanyl is taking. She says dealers know exactly how lethal fentanyl can be.

"We have to address this at all levels; we can’t simply ignore the people that are out on our streets selling death while we only go after suppliers," Jenkins said. "We have to be attacking this on all fronts, and that’s what we’re doing."

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This comes as talk about the city’s opioid crisis was front and center at a march and rally at City Hall on Monday.

Among the speakers at the rally was Breed, who made a case for her handling of the crisis during her tenure and the programs that have been created.

Some of Breed's challengers in the mayoral race this year also participated in the march and rally, including Supervisor Asha Safai, Daniel Lurie and Mark Farrell.

Other California counties, including some in Central and Southern California already are prosecuting drug dealers with homicide.