As the fentanyl crisis continues across the country, a new task force in Los Angeles is holding dealers accountable —not for selling drugs, but for murder.
As Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Lieutenant Bobby Dean explains, fentanyl provides an “extremely potent high, it is dirt cheap and it is incredibly easy to get.”
He also warned, “It’s a hundred times more powerful than morphine. And it will kill you in an instant if you get a bad batch.”
Dean leads the task force that investigates fentanyl deaths in Los Angeles County with the aim of bringing charges against dealers.
“They are absolutely approached like a homicide,” he told CBS News. “It is a death investigation.”
In Los Angeles County, the sheriff’s department investigates hundreds of fentanyl deaths a year. Sheriff Robert Luna said the goal is to have dealers face homicide charges, a growing strategy nationwide.
“What is the difference between somebody who stabs you or shoots you or is selling you pills that highly likely will kill you?” Luna said.