San Francisco mayoral candidate Mark Farrell floated the idea Thursday of sending in the National Guard to address the fentanyl overdose crisis by fighting the city’s downtown drug markets.
The proposal is the latest instance of the Democrat venture capitalist trying to defeat Mayor London Breed in November by attacking her from the right, according to Politico.
Both Breed and California Democrat Gov. Gavin Newsom have deployed the National Guard and California Highway Patrol to support the efforts of local police to take down fentanyl rings, but Farrell wants more personnel for an unspecified length of time.
As the city increasingly leans into law and order policies amid voter frustration over brazen theft and crime, Farrell’s call for “more armed California National Guard” is certain to resonate among residents fed up with the city’s decline.
A former city supervisor and interim mayor, Farrell told Politico he does not see his proposal through an ideological lens: It is merely a necessary response to the spike in drug-related deaths, including at least 811 last year alone.
“I don’t believe that it’s progressive or compassionate to allow a record number of overdose deaths on our streets every single year,” he said.
