OPINION: The surprising thing about San Francisco's drug centers champions forget
, operate within a culture that continues to accept open drug use with no expectation of recovery. As a result, the supervised drug-use centers become magnets for drug dealers, open drug use, sex-for-drugs trading, public filth, and violence. Widespread disorder is the norm – so much so that the preschool across the street from a supervised drug-use site in Harlem had to install bullet-proof glass.
This was the experience last year with San Francisco’s short-lived Tenderloin Center, which surreptitiously housed a supervised drug-use site. Opened as the Tenderloin Linkage Center,"linkage" was dropped from its name within months, a tacit admission that few were being linked to needed services. Despite strong support from the mayor and the media, the center was forced to close because local residents were fed up with the open drug dealing, drug use, and related behavioral issues the center spawned. Those now advocating for opening new sites in the city offer no remedy for these spill-over effects, meaning San Franciscans can look forward to more concentrated drug scenes and the problems they create.
Americans have a precedent in adopting the same attitude toward drunk driving and cigarette smoking, resulting in significant declines in both. Sooner or later, we are going to have to end our schizophrenic attitude to drugs and decide if they belong in the same category. If they do, supervised drug-use sites can be one piece in a continuum of care that restores lives. But on their own, they will not reduce or end drug deaths. Proponents get that wrong.Mary L. G.
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Defense attorney calls police reports related to Carmignani Marina District assault 'shocking'Police reports on eight separate acts of violence targeting homeless individuals living on the streets of San Francisco's Marina District have shed new light on the brutal assault of former San Francisco Fire Commissioner Don Carmignani. The attorney for the man accused in the brutal assault of Don Carmignani claimed Wednesday that police reports may reveal that the former San Francisco Fire Commissioner has a two-year history of harassing homeless living on the streets in San Francisco's Marina District.
Read more »
San Francisco DA Could Drop Charges in Ex-Fire Commissioner’s Savage BeatingNew video evidence appears to show the former fire commissioner using bear spray on homeless people in a separate incident, prosecutors claim.
Read more »
Mega Millions ticket worth $178k sold in San FranciscoIf you bought a Mega Millions ticket at a San Francisco deli, you may be a winner.
Read more »
Republicans release bizarre AI-driven ad featuring San FranciscoThe ad asserts that officials in San Francisco would “close” the city, “citing the escalating crime and fentanyl crisis.”
Read more »
San Francisco repeals ban on travel to states with restrictions on LGBT people and abortionIn a 7-4 vote, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors repealed a law prohibiting funding travel or doing business with companies in 30 states that instituted restrictions on LGBT people, abortion, and voting.
Read more »
Ex-San Francisco official hospitalized in pipe beatdown says charges to be dropped against homeless suspectLawyers for the former San Francisco fire commissioner hospitalized in early April in a pipe attack say prosecutors plan to drop charges against the suspect.
Read more »