(NewsNation) — As fentanyl claims hundreds of lives yearly in San Francisco, city leaders are collaborating with Governor Gavin Newsom on a joint law enforcement task force that will investigate fentanyl deaths as homicides. 

“The opioid crisis has claimed too many, and fentanyl traffickers must be held accountable including, as appropriate for murder,” Newsom said. 

California is facing a paradigm shift as it battles against the opioid epidemic. It was the only state to have more than 10,000 drug overdose deaths, out of which almost 6,000 were related to opioid use, in 2021 according to the CDC. 

San Francisco has seen an alarming rise in fatalities connected to fentanyl, with an average of two individuals succumbing to drug overdoses in the city daily.  

Mayor London Breed has declared fentanyl as the most lethal substance ever to infiltrate the city’s streets and has issued a stern warning to all drug dealers. 

A new task force is being established, equipping the city with the ability to investigate these overdoses as potential homicides, a departure from past practices. This task force will include personnel from the San Francisco Police Department, the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office, the California Highway Patrol, and the California National Guard. 

Their primary objective will be to gather intelligence on the production and distribution of fentanyl throughout the city, in addition to mapping out the supply chain of fentanyl and identifying major criminal syndicates involved. 

The task force is scheduled to start work in 2024.