San Francisco Has Its First Overdose Prevention Plan
SAN FRANCISCO — Earlier today, Supervisor Dean Preston held a hearing on San Francisco’s public health plan to address the City’s overdose crisis. The hearing was a result of Preston urging the Department of Public Health (DPH) to produce a plan in June after Mayor London Breed announced the imminent closure of the Tenderloin Center. Featuring DPH officials, as well as national experts, the hearing highlighted proven strategies to reduce overdoses, including a consensus that safe consumption sites work and must be a cornerstone of San Francisco’s strategy.
Since the announcement, Supervisor Preston immediately began working with the DPH and public health advocates toward developing a comprehensive plan.
“From Day One, I’ve urged DPH and health advocates to lay out a plan, unhindered by politics, with proven public health solutions and measurable goals, and to challenge political leaders to put our differences aside and make their plan a reality,” stated Preston. “What became most clear from everyone I spoke with is that any plan must include overdose prevention sites, along with other bold harm reduction strategies. I look forward to the input as the public reviews this plan, but I can say this now: DPH releasing a comprehensive plan with measurable goals is a big step forward.”
DPH’s long-awaited plan calls for investment in expanded treatment options as well as harm reduction programs such as needle distribution, drug checking, Naloxone distribution, methadone and buprenorphine treatment, and safe consumption/overdose prevention sites. The department also advances a series of goals for the City’s overdose response, including reducing fatal overdoses by 15% by 2025, ensuring that supervised consumption sites are available, and reducing racial disparities in overdoses by 30% by 2025. Currently, Black San Franciscans are 6 times more likely to die from overdose.
In addition, the plan includes a commitment to open more “Wellness Hubs” that will offer overdose prevention services, with the first opening at the end of 2022 as the Tenderloin Center is scheduled to close. At the hearing, a multitude of public health experts urged the City to quickly open multiple overdose prevention centers and to study newer strategies like safe supply, citing studies that shown that safe consumption sites and harm reduction strategies have significant positive public health and wellness outcomes, including reducing the risk of fatal overdose, getting people into treatment, and improving street conditions.
“The Tenderloin Center has proven that there is an undeniable need for supervised consumption services in San Francisco, and that providers can offer those services effectively to save lives,” said Maurice Byrd, Director of Training and Business Operations for the Harm Reduction Therapy Center. “We need more of these public health solutions and less harmful ‘War on Drugs’ rhetoric and strategies that will undo the gains we have made to reach people who might otherwise overdose on our streets. Today’s conversation was a great start.”
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