SF is caught in a powerful virtuous cycle of drug dealing with no end in sight.

The TLDR: No prosecution for dealing --> lower drug prices --> more people come here to use --> more demand --> more supply --> more death.

Great reporting by @hknightsf.

A to follow (1/x) https://twitter.com/hknightsf/status/1327659934532608001

Let's start with the tragedy that is unfolding on our streets - primarily out of view.

We are on track for 700 overdose deaths this year in SF. 515 so far. 3.3x the number of covid deaths.

Compare the response of the city around each crisis. (2/x)

The response of our city gov is that we need more treatment. I completely agree.

But with that said it's my understanding we have dozens of treatment beds available in SF right now. Treatment alone is not a solution. We need to prosecute dealing. (3/x)

The DA says they prosecute 80% of cases, but what is "prosecution" exactly? From the article:

"Boudin... typically supports plea deals requiring defendants to stay away from the corner or block in which they were arrested. But it’s common for the defendant to return...

... to the same corner anyway, get arrested again and be sentenced by a judge to probation.

Defendants are almost always out in the community as their cases wind their way through the courts."

I'm confused. How is this punishment for dealing deadly drugs...?

My current POV - it isn't. It's flimsy prosecution.

And it's making SF a mecca for drug dealing.

"a central reason the Tenderloin is one of the largest open-air drug markets on the West Coast is that dealers know the criminal consequences will be light...

(6/x)

...That keeps prices low. Traffickers must spend money to bail their workers out of jail or to replace those locked up with new staff, but that’s not usually an issue in San Francisco."

So - the drugs here are cheap, essentially legal to use & sell, and plentiful. (7/x)

As a city, we are essentially under siege:
+ by a DA that doesn't want to prosecute certain crimes
+ by a gov that struggles tremendously to GSD
+ by a national opioid crisis that is drawing thousands of severely ill people to our streets (8/x)

So what happens next...? What can we do?

A few thoughts:

1) This will get worse. SF tourism, commercial real estate and rent rolls are in free fall. https://www.publiccommentsf.com/post/sf-s-hotel-business-tax-declines-are-worse-than-expected

2) City leadership is in denial and/or purposefully kicking the can down the road.

The recent budget (~2 months ago) did not include *ANY* assumptions around people leaving SF to WFH elsewhere. https://twitter.com/michelletandler/status/1316827369248751616?s=20

3) SF residents & business owners have little recourse.

From what I understand the DA office is the highest law of the land. If they don't want to prosecute dealing, they don't.

My read is that this is an interesting approach to the law.

If you can't change it, ignore it.

4) There are valid reasons to not prosecute drug dealing:
+ Drug use is an individual choice.
+ Yes, dealing leads to death, but so does selling guns.
+ Liberal views on drugs are shared by libertarians and ultra left-wing alike. It's a philosophical POV.

(12/x)

5) But the downside of making SF a drug mecca has serious downstream ramifications:
+ Addicts are preyed upon, often to the point of death
+ Businesses face property damage, shoplifting, trash/human waste, scared customers
+ City incurs massive costs

(13/x)

6) In terms of city costs - they are serious:
+ SFPD -- arrests are time-consuming and $$, also they spend a tremendous amount of time reversing overdoses (thousands last year)
+ SFFD - thousands of EMS pickups, followed by costly hospital stays (assume $5k+ per overdose)

+ Street cleaning (needles, human waste, turned over trash cans, etc)
+ Treatment (much of which is currently vacant)
+ Non-profits (e.g., needle exchange program which gives out 14,500 needles/DAY).

And the costs to businesses are high too:
+ Private security at ~$200/hour (I've seen private security in almost every office and maybe 20% of retail brands)
+ Property damage, theft, insurance
+ Lost retail business due to consumers preferring online ordering

(16/x)

My read - this is political and this is philosophical:
+ We believe in the rights of drug users to use
+ We have normalized property theft to the point where it's practically government-sanctioned looting
+ We do not believe selling to an addict is criminal

(17/x)

I personally believe that adults should be allowed to use some recreational drugs - but only in a responsible way that does no harm to others.

That is not what we have here.

We have severely ill individuals landing here, being preyed upon, and dying. By the hundreds. (18/x)

We are turning a blind eye.

We rationalize the surge in ODs by believing they are self-inflicted.

Meanwhile, we rationalize the lack of prosecution by saying addiction is a disease.

So which is it? A disease or a choice? (19/x)

We as a city need to have a POV on this.
+ If a disease, then we should be prosecuting the dealers for preying on the sick & weak.
+ If a choice, then we need to prosecute the behavior associated with drug use (e.g., property crime) (20/x)

I keep thinking back to the Singapore Museum which I visited a few years back. They had a section on The Opium Crisis.

In the 19th century. they had hundreds dying in the streets of addiction. Ppl were starving b/c they were spending all their money in opium dens. (21/x)

Singapore cracked down. Instituted some of the harshest measures for dealing that exist (e.g., death penalty). Today their rate of addiction is among the lowest in the world.

I am not advocating for severe punishment. But I am advocating for prosecution of dealing.

I'm no lawyer, but I think the city is at risk of a class-action lawsuit by the families of the deceased.

It's the job of the government to uphold the law.

The law is being ignored, and it's leading to hundreds of deaths.

I feel deep shame that my hometown has used the "failed war on drugs" as an excuse for allowing this level of chaos, crime, and destitution.

The war on drugs was 50 years ago. No other nation in the world allows drug use like this. We need change.

(fin)