A plan to legalize safe injection sites across the Bay Area is once again being pushed by State Senator Scott Wiener.
Local residents have mixed feelings about the controversial drug prevention strategy, though the numbers make it clear the city must take some sort of action. San Francisco had over 400 overdose deaths in 2019 and is on track to exceed that this year.
"When you think about the number of deaths that are on the rise because of overdoses, what that means is we have to do a better job," San Francisco Mayor London Breed said.
The mayor is once again supporting legislation to open safe injection sites in the city and in Oakland. Alongside Breed and San Francisco Public Health Director Dr. Grant Colfax, Sen. Wiener said there is increased urgency for this, especially during the coronavirus pandemic.
"We know that because of COVID-19, more people are relapsing into drug use as well as other mental health problems," he explained. "We are going in the wrong direction."
Still, providing a safe haven for drug addicts to shoot up legally remains a tough sell for many. We spoke with Mark Gilbert in the Tenderloin.
"If you look on the streets of San Francisco, you see people out here smoking everything and anything and the police don’t do anything about it."
Weiner plans to reintroduce his legislation as soon as December for next year's legislative session. He’s hopeful that his legislation - which was vetoed by former Gov. Jerry Brown in 2018 - will be signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom. Another effort from Sen. Wiener, introduced in February 2019, didn't even come to a vote.
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