View the San Francisco for Sunday, January 19, 2025
Methadone tablets in the hands of registered nurse Jessica “Hoops” at the Bridge Clinic for opioid use treatment at Zuckerberg General Hospital in San Francisco on Wednesday, Sept. 25, 2024. San Francisco recorded fewer drug-overdose deaths in 2024 than in any year since the chief medical examiner started publishing monthly reports in 2020, according to The record low comes just one year after The City’s deadliest in that time.
San Francisco’s 633 overdose deaths in 2024 marked a 22% decrease from the 810 recorded in 2023. “ has transformed The City’s substance use treatment,” Dr. Grant Colfax, its outgoing director, said of the decline Friday. “Treatment saves lives.” San Francisco recorded 47 fatal overdoses in December to round out 2024. The December tally was up slightly from November but down from December 2023 . December was The City’s ninth consecutive month in which it recorded fewer year-over-year deaths, and the 10th of 12 months overall.atop the department Feb. 7 — and other public-health officials credited the decline in overdose deaths to efforts to reduce barriers to treatment and increase access to medications in 2024. Since March, the Department of Public Health said it has connected 1,300 unhoused San Franciscans with medication to treat opioid addictions through a telehealth-appointment program that now operates 16 hours per day. From January to October, Colfax said prescriptions for the medication buprenorphine rose 52% over the same time period in 2023. Admissions to clinics administering methadone — the other predominant treatment for opioid addiction — increased 39%, Colfax said. While fentanyl and the associated opioid crisis continue to be a primary focus of the department, Colfax said contingency-management interventions — a form of behavioral therapy in which participants are given incentives to encourage their recoveries — are priorities to address methamphetamine and cocaine addictions. There were 326 overdose deaths in 2024 attributed to methamphetamines and 269 to cocaine, a drop of 20% and 27.5%, respectively, from 2023.Dr. Hillary Kunins, the director of behavioral health for the department, said there are currently 10 sites in San Francisco that now offer contingency management. She said it’s “the most effective treatment for stimulant-use disorder.” Kunins said the department plans to open seven more sites this year, tailoring their programming to treat demographic groups experiencing disproportionate numbers of overdose deaths. For instance, Kunins said Black San Franciscans are “experiencing more than five times the rate of overdose deaths compared to other San Franciscans.” “To address these disparities, we are continuing to expand culturally converted approaches to reach these folks most at risk,” she said, announcing an expansion of services in the predominantly Black Bayview-Hunters Point neighborhood.— which currently sends staff into the Tenderloin and South of Market neighborhoods each night to connect residents suffering from opioid-use disorder with telehealth appointments or treatment beds — will expand into the area, according to Kunins. She said the program has provided more than 2,000 people with remote doctors’ visits since its October 2023 launch.at the San Francisco Public Library. Registration is no longer available for the Jan. 30 event, which will focus on addressing racial disparities in the opioid crisis. “The department will continue to take a strategic, multipronged approach to work on saving lives,” Kunins said. “We are committed to building upon the interventions that have been successful in getting people into treatment and recovery and open to new strategies and interventions in order to save lives.”, who campaigned on a promise to declare a state of emergency over fentanyl and will appoint Colfax’s successor to lead the Department of Public Health., Lurie introduced a legislative proposal Tuesday that, if approved, would reduce Board of Supervisors oversight of mayoral efforts to expand social services and increase enforcement of drug crimes in an effort to decrease deaths. Lurie, who was elected with 55% of the ranked-choice votes, said San Franciscans provided “a mandate to deliver.” “The first thing we talked about was public safety, the second thing was the fentanyl state of emergency, and I’m really honored that I have five co-sponsors already,” Lurie said Wednesday at a press conference. “We are going to get this passed.”Click and hold your mouse button on the page to select the area you wish to save or print. You can click and drag the clipping box to move it or click and drag in the bottom right corner to resize it. When you're happy with your selection, click the checkmark icon next to the clipping area to continue.This is the name that will be displayed next to your photo for comments, blog posts, and more. Choose wisely!Create a password that only you will remember. If you forget it, you'll be able to recover it using your email address.Forgot Password An email message containing instructions on how to reset your password has been sent to the email address listed on your account.
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