San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria said he plans to task San Diego’s government affairs department to pursue legislation that would enhance criminal sentences when fentanyl sales result in injury and death.
San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria said he will issue an executive order this month that directs staff to prioritize the city’s response to the fentanyl crisis.
Last year, 812 people in San Diego County died after taking the drug. In the first six months of this year, another 825 people overdosed on fentanyl.“We will not make or accept excuses for letting this crisis continue to grow out of control,” Gloria said at a news conference Thursday. “We are going to own this, and we’re going to make sure we’re tackling it at every level.”
Dist. Atty. Summer Stephan said at the conference that the maximum sentence someone could face for selling fentanyl, even if that sale led to a fatal overdose, is three years. In 2017, a Poway man was arrested on suspicion of selling pills laced with the drug to a friend who later overdosed and died. The suspect, Alfred Lemus, pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter and was sentenced in 2018 to 15 years in prison for the death. He was the first local drug dealer to be charged with murder after an overdose, city officials said.
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