California Governor Gavin Newsom is touting a long-awaited decline in overdose deaths, but the celebration is drawing sharp pushback from federal officials who argue the credit belongs to an immigration and cartel crackdown the governor once vehemently opposed.
Newsom’s office announced that the state’s overdose death rate fell 21% in 2024—the first such drop in 14 years. But critics quickly noted that the statistic conveniently skips over 2025, the year President Donald Trump returned to office and federal agents launched major operations against drug cartels and illegal alien criminals in Los Angeles.
Bill Essayli, first assistant U.S. attorney for the Central District of California, who oversaw many of the drug raids in L.A., responded directly to Newsom’s claim with a pointed jab: “Right. I’m sure it has nothing to do with the Feds locking up the drug dealers and suppliers you were letting run free throughout California.”
The timing is more than coincidence to observers. Federal authorities have conducted sweeping operations targeting cartel networks in California, including a high-profile ICE raid at MacArthur Park, a well-known hub for drug activity and homelessness in Los Angeles. Newsom publicly condemned that operation, as well as other federal efforts by the Department of Homeland Security, the National Guard, and U.S. attorneys.
The governor also drew fierce criticism for his administration’s funding of nonprofit groups that distribute drug paraphernalia, including crack pipes and syringes, to homeless addicts. One such organization, People Assisting the Homeless (PATH), saw its employee Christopher Barret Johnson arrested on federal criminal charges—a case that highlighted the tension between state-funded harm reduction programs and federal enforcement.
Newsom’s office pointed to a 21% decline in overdose deaths in 2024, a figure that is accurate for that year, according to state data. Yet opioid-related deaths in California still remained above pre-pandemic levels in 2024, and the state ranked first in the nation for opioid deaths that year, with more than 4,000 additional deaths compared to any other state.
It was only in 2025, after the Trump administration’s immigration raids and cartel prosecutions ramped up, that California’s overall drug death toll finally dipped below pandemic-era highs. Opioid overdoses, while improved, remain a persistent concern.
Critics accuse Newsom of cherry-picking data to dodge an uncomfortable truth: that federal enforcement, not state policy, is what turned the tide. They point to California’s long-standing practice of funding NGOs that supply drug users with clean pipes and needles—programs that some argue have inadvertently sustained addiction and street-level drug markets.
The political battle over who deserves credit for the overdose decline is likely to intensify as both parties gear up for the next election cycle. For now, the dispute underscores a fundamental divide: one side sees federal intervention as the solution to California’s drug crisis, the other sees it as an overreach that the governor fought at every step.
Newsom’s office did not respond to requests for comment on the federal officials’ criticism.
Source: pjmedia.com — https://pjmedia.com/catherinesalgado/2026/09/03/feds-are-cleaning-out-drug-cartels-in-la-anti-ice-newsom-takes-credit-for-overdose-decline-n4956856
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