A San Francisco politician is pushing for a radical new approach to addressing the city’s growing public drug use problem: arrest 100 people a day for violations.
The proposal comes from Supervisor Catherine Stefano, who claims that a more aggressive enforcement strategy is needed to tackle the escalating issue. According to Stefano, the city’s current approach of simply providing harm reduction services and citing users is not working.
The supervisor’s plan would see the creation of a special task force dedicated to targeting and arresting individuals caught using drugs in public. The goal is to make an example of these individuals, with the hope that the threat of arrest will deter others from engaging in similar behavior.
Critics of the plan point out that it would not only be harmful to the arrested individuals but also pricey for the city, as it could mean a significant increase in police overtime pay and the need for additional court resources. They also argue that focusing on enforcement will only exacerbate the problem by pushing users further underground and making it harder to access critical health services.
Advocates for harm reduction services, on the other hand, are urging the city to take a more compassionate and evidence-based approach. They argue that providing safe injection sites, naloxone, and other forms of support would be a more effective way to address the issue and keep users safe.