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Mayor Daniel Lurie is scaling back a core component of San Francisco’s approach to overdoses and outdoor drug use, putting many health experts on edge.
Public health providers across the city are being told to cease distributing safe smoking supplies in public spaces, according to the mayor’s Wednesday announcement. People must now participate in drug counseling or other services in order to receive any type of safer-use supplies.
The move comes as overdose deaths have increased in San Francisco since October. Mounting pressure from business and community members has challenged the city’s embrace of harm reduction, a public health approach the city helped pioneer during the HIV/AIDS crisis to improve the health and lives of drug users at any stage of use or recovery…