The race for mayor has quickly become a rhetorical sprint away from The City’s official approach to the fentanyl epidemic that — at least on paper — favors gentle interventions over forced treatment of people with drug addictions.
Candidates Mark Farrell and Daniel Lurie both introduced proposals last month that would force drug users into treatment. Mayor London Breed , meanwhile, led a ballot measure to require welfare recipients to undergo screening for drug addiction and participate in treatment programs. She has also struck a more aggressive tone and distanced herself from her own administration’s policies, according to critics.
Last month, flanked by abstinence-based recovery leaders at a rally outside City Hall, Breed warned that The City’s “harm reduction” efforts are “making things worse.”
It’s a sharp turn from the Overdose Prevention Plan that Breed’s administration drafted in 2022. The plan features services such as safe injection sites — where people can use drugs under the supervision of a professional trained in overdose reversal — that have yet to come to fruition.