Over the past four years, more than 200 people have died annually of overdoses in Oakland. Yet just across the Bay, San Francisco’s drug epidemic is deadlier.
Although Oakland has more people per capita living below the poverty line and nearly double the number of people per capita living in tents and vehicles, San Francisco’s drug crisis is claiming lives at a far higher rate, especially among Black residents.
Last year, roughly 75 people fatally overdosed per 100,000 residents in San Francisco compared with about 50 per 100,000 in Oakland. And although both cities have significant racial disparities in fatal overdoses, Black people are significantly more at risk of dying of an overdose in San Francisco than in Oakland, according to a Chronicle analysis…