Drug overdoses in San Francisco are only getting worse
Zachary Faria
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Many people chalked up rises in crime, drug addiction, and homelessness to the pandemic and expected those problems to decline the further we moved away from 2020. While that (very, very slow) decline has been observed in several areas, others are only getting worse.
This is the case for overdose deaths in San Francisco, which are on pace to shatter the mark set in 2020. Through July, San Francisco has recorded 473 overdose deaths, far ahead of the 400 the city saw over the same time period in 2020. San Francisco finished 2020 with 725 overdose deaths. The city is currently on pace to top 800 overdose deaths this year, which is nearly double the number from 2019 and nearly four times the number from 2017.
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This is made even bleaker by the fact that the number of overdose reversals by Emergency Medical Services has also steadily increased over the past year. The drugs that San Francisco residents are overdosing on (primarily fentanyl and methamphetamine) did not suddenly become more deadly. Simply put, more people in San Francisco are falling into drug addiction.
As it turns out, running your criminal justice system based on keeping people out of jail for “nonviolent” crimes such as dealing drugs isn’t a wise move. From 2019 to 2022, only 6% of people charged with selling drugs in San Francisco were ultimately convicted on a drug charge. Most took plea deals with an average sentence of 38 days. As previously detailed, San Francisco’s lax attitude toward drug use and drug dealing means that the city’s overdose deaths were helping fund lavish homes for Honduran drug dealers.
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Neither was it wise for San Francisco to focus its fight against drugs by not fighting drugs at all. Instead, the city spent millions on a grand “safe-injection site” where officials could supervise drug addicts shooting up and effectively encourage them to continue to do so. Aside from doing little to discourage drug use, it also increased crime in the area because drug addicts then began harassing and assaulting local residents and defecating and urinating in the streets.
The naivete of San Francisco liberals has been on full display for several years now, and the rampant drug addiction and homelessness that the city has repeatedly failed to address is the most shining example. The pandemic may have been an accelerant, but it is not the culprit. San Francisco Democrats and their weak policies must shoulder the blame.