News Officials question San Francisco's emergency over opioids

[thegreenhand]

Officials question San Francisco's emergency over opioids​

Janie Har
AP/ABC
23 Dec 2021

SAN FRANCISCO -- The Board of Supervisors in San Francisco were meeting Thursday to consider an emergency order requested by the mayor to tackle the opioid epidemic in the city's troubled Tenderloin neighborhood, with some members clearly dismayed that the declaration could be used to criminalize people who are homeless, addicted to drugs or both.

The public health emergency declaration allows the Department of Emergency Management to re-allocate city staff and bypass contracting and permitting regulations to set up a new temporary center where people can access expanded drug treatment and counseling.

But advocates for the homeless and substance users are urging a no vote because Mayor London Breed has also pledged to flood the district with police officers to halt crime. Public health officials encourage treatment for drug addicts, not punishment, but Breed has said that people consuming drugs in public may wind up in jail unless they accept services.

Read the full story here.

 

[Snafu in the Void]

Tenderloin district is pure human carnage. Worse than skid row in LA

 

[G_Chem]

I hate how people always use these areas to show how bad socialist/lefty ideas are when in reality these people go there because that’s the only safe place left for them to go. They also likely wouldn’t be out there at all if supported by socialist programs. These drug users/homeless often aren’t even from the area, they’ve come in from some other red state trying to just survive.

-GC

 

[thegreenhand]

The mandatory treatment being proposed is not gonna do anything except make life harder for these folks too. We need to meet them where they are and provide adequate harm reduction. Namely needle exchange (plus pipe exchange) and free drug checking