In communities across San Francisco and the nation, we are facing a devastating truth: fentanyl has changed everything. For decades, public health strategies included harm reduction methods such as distributing pipes, foil, or other paraphernalia in the name of reducing transmission of disease. But the fentanyl crisis demands a new conversation.
There is no safe way to use fentanyl, and by continuing to hand out smoking paraphernalia, we risk normalizing and prolonging a cycle of use that ends in death for far too many of our neighbors.
As the Ambassador for Recovery and Director of Recovery Services for Tenderloin Housing Clinic, I work daily with individuals who are struggling with substance use and with those who are fighting their way back into recovery. I have seen first-hand the way fentanyl has infiltrated every corner of our city, often in the form of counterfeit pills or laced substances. It is not a drug that can be managed; it is a poison that kills indiscriminately…