San Francisco could arrest drug users, release them within ‘hours’ in latest ploy to control rampant drug use: Report

San Francisco officials announced on Tuesday that they are planning on addressing rampant drug use by briefly locking the drug users in county jail, according to local news reports.

The Department of Emergency Management said it will instill new ways to “address” public drug use in a pilot program expected to be unveiled next week with Mayor London Breed’s budget proposal, according to the San Francisco Standard. A legislative aide for San Francisco Supervisor for Dean Preston told the Standard that while the plan did involve utilizing the police, drug users would be released within “hours.”

Right now, the details of the plan are speculative, but Board of Supervisors president Aaron Peskin said that he is under the impression that individuals openly using drugs were going to be prosecuted in some way, according to the Standard.

“San Francisco is committed to caring for people experiencing substance use disorder on the streets, as well as, mitigating the harm caused to communities by open-air drug use,” the San Francisco Department of Emergency Management told the Daily Caller News Foundation.

“The City is developing a pilot program to address situations when someone is so far under the influence of drugs that they may pose a danger to themselves or others,” they said. “We need every tool at our disposal to address the harm caused by open-air drug use. A pilot program will be proposed as part of the Mayor’s upcoming budget proposal.”

San Francisco Supervisor Dean Preston criticized the plan on Tuesday, tweeting, “Arresting people for drug addiction is not ‘moderate’ nor ‘commonsense.’ It’s reactionary, cruel, and counterproductive.”

Given the potent lethality of fentanyl — and a cold-blooded street-level criminal drug market fueling the worst public health crisis S.F. has faced since AIDS — I think the most important, most compassionate, most life-saving message we can send is this: The party is over. (2/4)

— Matt Dorsey (@mattdorsey) May 23, 2023

A recent poll by Probolsky Research found that 73% of those polled were unhappy with the trajectory of the city, and almost 60% of voters viewed Mayor Breed unfavorably. Crime has been central to San Francisco residents’ disdain, with a CityBeat poll finding that only 30% of residents feel safe at night.

Breed previously planned to address public drug use through a building called the “linkage center,” which aimed to introduce addicts to treatment while providing them with the materials needed to use drugs, like alcohol swabs and clean needles. It shuttered after a little over a year over complaints of open-air drug use and crime, according to ABC 7.

The San Francisco Mayor’s Office did not immediately respond to DCNF’s request for comment.

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