San Francisco ’s Democratic mayor, London Breed, is introducing a new measure where single adults already on or applying for welfare will have to be screened for illegal drug use before receiving payments.
Breed, who is facing a tough reelection, said Proposition F would make it more challenging for those with substance abuse problems to access illegal drugs such as fentanyl, and it would offer applicants treatment instead as an incentive to receive their cash assistance from the city, which at most is $700 a month.
“They said San Francisco makes it too easy for people to access and to use drugs on the streets of the city, and we need to do something a lot more aggressive,” Breed said inside an athletic store that has faced multiple burglaries in the city.
This is Breed’s latest effort to help combat the city’s drug problem, which claimed the lives of over 800 people last year. Black and immigrant neighborhoods, as well as drug recovery advocates, have been putting pressure on Breed, who is the city’s first black mayor, to be more aggressive in addressing San Francisco’s drug and crime surges.