Targeting public drug use, The City will open a center offering treatment for arrested intoxicated people to avoid jail and hospitalization
In line with his ongoing campaign against public drug use, San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie said Wednesday that The City will open a stabilization center for people arrested for public intoxication that will serve as an alternative to jail and hospitalization, and a connection to addiction treatment and other behavioral health programs.
The “Rapid Enforcement, Support, Evaluation, and Triage Center” will be located in the South of Market area at 444 6th St., next to Interstate 80 and around the corner from the Hall of Justice at 850 Bryant St. The San Francisco Sheriff’s Office, with support from the Department of Public Health, will oversee the center, while Connections Health Solutions will run it. The Phoenix-based company provides behavioral health care services in multiple states. “We are making a fundamental change to San Francisco's approach to the fentanyl crisis,” Lurie said in a press release. “Instead of cycling through jails and emergency rooms, those using drugs on our streets will have a chance to enter treatment and our law enforcement officers will get back on patrol more quickly. San Francisco's families deserve clean and safe streets and we're going to be relentless in delivering that.” Pilot operations of the stabilization center will focus on public intoxication in SoMa neighborhoods, according to the announcement the Mayor’s Office issued. Once people are deemed able to care for themselves, they will be eligible for release, it said. Connections Health Solutions runs six crisis centers and two mobile crisis teams in Arizona, Montana, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Washington, said Sarah Lopez, its vice president of business development, via email. The company employs recovery support specialists, behavioral health providers, nurses and physicians, among others, Lopez said. “The RESET Center represents a tough-love approach that balances accountability with compassion,” said Sheriff Paul Miyamoto in the press release. “This is an alternative to jail or the emergency room — one that allows deputies and first responders to focus on higher-priority emergencies while ensuring people struggling with addiction receive individualized care from medical professionals, not a drunk tank.” Supervisor Matt Dorsey, who represents SoMa and speaks frequently about his own recovery from addiction, welcomed the initiative, though he acknowledged that some area residents are concerned it could bring new problems. “I think the RESET center is the single most important directional shift in drug policy in San Francisco since the advent of the fentanyl crisis. This is about making a custodial, involuntary intervention, arresting somebody for being under the influence of drugs and getting them into an environment where they will be safe,” Dorsey said. “I think this is a good start, and I'm glad that this is going to be focused on the South of Market neighborhood, where we have a real problem,” he said. Ex // Top Stories SF Art Week brings new exhibitions to downtown SF landmark The Institute of Contemporary Art San Francisco introduces first pop-up exhibits as part of annual event SF sports set to provide 'unforgettable memories' in 2026 An NFL championship game, a global soccer tournament and a pro women's baseball team are on The City's horizon SF supes ready to grill PG&E, Waymo after outages With 2026 underway, lawmakers seek answers on blackouts that ended 2025 Sixth Street, especially near Market Street, is a hot spot for public drug use and related problems. The road is a major entry to downtown San Francisco from Interstate 80, and the bad impression visitors get has cost The City, including in lost convention business, Dorsey said. “It's diminishing the safety of our neighborhoods. It's hurting our economy. It's hurting our residents. It's hurting our businesses, our conventions,” he said. ‘So many of the problems San Francisco faces are attributable directly or indirectly to public drug use and the scale at which it's playing out.” “People who are coming to San Francisco to engage in public drug use have to know that there's now three options, get sober, get arrested, or get out. But the party's over,” Dorsey said. The center will allow officers to drop inebriated people off in as little as 15 minutes as opposed to spending up to several hours processing them into jail or hospital settings, Dorsey said. He said he hopes the SoMa center leads to similar operations in other parts of The City. Leah Edwards, treasurer and cofounder of the SOMA West Neighborhood Association, said she shares the desire to reduce open drug use, particularly on 6th Street and surrounding streets. “We understand that that's the goal of this project. And we want that goal to be accomplished,” Edwards said. At the same time, Edwards expressed apprehension that the new stabilization center will release people into an area unconducive to sobriety and could even attract drug dealers looking to sell to people exiting the facility. “Our main concerns are whether or not it'll actually be effective for keeping people off of the streets, rather than just taking them in and then releasing them again,” Edwards said. “And will there be increased security risk to the neighborhood? If we have a lot of folks being taken to this facility, are we just sort of extending the open-air drug market that already fills the first few blocks of 6th Street?” The new stabilization center is the just one of various Lurie initiatives to tackle public use of drugs, particularly fentanyl. The administration last year ran a four-month pilot triage center on Stevenson Street just off Sixth Street that offered referrals to people struggling with homelessness and drug addiction. Last April, The City opened a voluntary behavioral health stabilization center at 822 Geary St. for people in crisis. Run by the San Francisco Department of Public Health, the facility is meant to offer an efficient alternative to admitting people to hospital emergency departments. The operation is run by Crestwood Behavioral Health, a California-based mental health care provider with operations across the state.
Matt Dorsey Paul Miyamoto Connections Health Solutions Sixth Street
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