SAN FRANCISCO ( KRON ) — San Francisco will no longer distribute fentanyl-smoking paraphernalia to drug users without them agreeing to counseling and treatment, Mayor Daniel Lurie announced Wednesday. The new policy, according to Lurie’s office, marks a significant shift in the city’s approach to public health and the fentanyl crisis in particular.
“We can no longer accept the reality of two people a day dying from overdose,” Lurie said. “The status quo has failed to ensure the health and safety of our entire community, as well as those in the throes of addiction. Fentanyl has changed the game, and we’ve been relying on strategies that preceded this new drug epidemic, which ends today.”
The policy shift is part of Lurie’s “Breaking the Cycle” plan, which is aimed at getting people off the streets and into drug treatment. It marks a departure from existing city policy, under which fentanyl-smoking supplies like foil, pipes and plastic straws are handed out to drug users with few conditions attached.
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The new guidelines, issued by San Francisco Department of Public Health (DPH) Director Dan Tsai, mean people will need to agree to treatment, counseling, or be connected to services to receive safer drug use supplies…