A mayor in Southern California is facing a backlash after suggesting tackling homelessness in the city of Lancaster by providing vagrants with “all the fentanyl they want” to purge them.

The US is already grappling with a severe opioid crisis.

Fentanyl which was originally developed for severe pain management, is 50 times more potent than heroin and 100 times stronger than morphine.

Mayor Rex Parris of Lancaster, California sparked controversy during a February city council meeting after a resident criticized the city’s plan to deal with homelessness by confining them to an abandoned golf course near a residential area, the outlet said on Sunday.

According to footage from the meeting, Parris interrupted the residents remarks, saying, “what I want to do is give them free fentanyl.”

“I mean, that’s what I want to do. I want to give them all the fentanyl they want.”

On Friday Parris appeared on Fox 11 Los Angeles where he clarified that the purpose of the free fentanyl is to purge the criminal homeless people for the greater good of society.

RT reports:L Parris, who has served as mayor since 2008, told FOX LA on Friday that he has no “regrets” about his remarks. He clarified that he was referring specifically to unhoused individuals involved in criminal activity who “refuse” assistance, and reiterated his stance on providing them with the highly addictive and often deadly opioid.

“I made it very clear I was talking about the criminal element that were let out of the prisons that have now become 40 to 45% of what’s referred to as the homeless population,” Parris told the outlet.

“They are responsible for most of our robberies, most of our rapes, and at least half of our murders,” he added, without providing any evidence or data to support his claims.

Parris went on to say he hadn’t thought anyone would take his comments “literally,” claiming that fentanyl is “so easy” to obtain on the streets that offering it for free wouldn’t make any difference.

“Quite frankly, I wish that the president would give us a purge. Because we do need to purge these people,” Parris concluded.