Businesses downtown say drug deals are openly happening on the streets of Nashville, and Metro Police say fentanyl has become the single biggest killer.
An undercover Metro Police sergeant says people are dying in Nashville every day because of the spread of this deadly and illegal drug.
The sergeant tells FOX 17 News that he is seeing significant amounts of fentanyl flooding the streets, and he explains it’s drug dealers who are claiming to sell cocaine or prescription pills when these drugs contain mostly fentanyl.
“Unscrupulous drug dealers who are solely interested in making a dollar off of the lives of innocent people who are dying every day in our city,” the sergeant said.
These drugs are being sold in public even during the day.
FOX 17 News asked, “Businesses we spoke with this week told they’re seeing these drugs being sold openly on the streets. Why is this happening and what are detectives like yourself doing to stop this?”
The sergeant responded, “In the last several months as well as the months to follow if not years to follow, we’ve conducted operations in the downtown corridor and across the city to combat the sale of fentanyl to individuals in our city.”
He says they could use more resources and personnel, but that they are working a lot of overtime to stay on top of this to prevent the spread.
“We just want the dealers out there that are selling this poison on our street and killing our people to know that we are out there, and we are constantly watching and we are constantly out among the public looking to put a stop to the sale of this drug,” the sergeant emphasized.
He adds while their tactics and procedures are confidential, they've shifted their focus to the large-scale distribution of drugs that could impact thousands of people.
The sergeant says they also work with community partners to get people suffering from addiction the help and resources they need, because he says one less case is one less death in our city.
Metro Police say if you, a friend or a loved one needs help with addiction you can call their community overdose response team at 615-687-1701.
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