San Francisco is charging ahead with its plan to prosecute drug dealers as murderers as the city reels from record-levels of overdose deaths and rampant public drug use — a central topic in the city’s mayoral race. 

“Harm reduction from my perspective is not reducing the harm,” the city’s mayor, London Breed, said at a rally Monday, as residents marched in the streets and demanded solutions from leaders to address the city’s crippling drug crisis. 

As Ms. Breed faces criticism in her re-election campaign for the city’s drug policies, she is taking a tougher-on-drugs approach,  backing a contentious ballot proposition that would screen welfare recipients for drug addiction, as the Sun has reported. 

In October, Ms. Breed, Governor Newsom, and the city’s district attorney and police chief announced a law enforcement task force to investigate opioid-connected deaths in the city. The task force aims to treat opioid deaths like homicide cases, Mr. Newsom said in an announcement, adding that it will investigate, gather evidence, analyze data, and disrupt distribution networks in San Francisco to hold dealers accountable. 

The city is in its final stages of assembling the task force, NBC Bay Area reported after an interview with the city’s district attorney, Brooke Jenkins, and the task force is expected to be fully operational this spring. 

When asked about her response to critics who said the dealers are the low-level criminals and that the manufacturer and suppliers are the greater threat, Ms. Jenkins said the drug crisis requires attention at all levels.

“We can’t simply ignore the people who are out on our streets selling death while we only go after suppliers. We have to be attacking this on all fronts,” she said, adding that the dealers’ actions have been taking over neighborhoods, posing a threat to children and adults on their way to school and work. “The status quo isn’t working and it hasn’t been working.” 

When the task force was first announced, Mr. Newsom said it was because victims deserved peace. 

“The opioid crisis has claimed too many, and fentanyl traffickers must be held accountable including, as appropriate, for murder,” Mr. Newsom said in a statement, adding that the state will provide treatment for drug addicts but will also work to “secure justice for families who have lost loved ones.”  

Ms. Breed echoed his statements, adding that she was putting people “on notice” that pushing fentanyl could lead to homicide charges.