San Francisco ends policy of providing drug paraphernalia without treatment

San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie on Wednesday announced that the city would no longer give users free paraphernalia to consume drugs without providing treatment counseling.

The move marks a shift away from the standing policy of providing supplies for people to use drugs in a safer manner, including clean foil and needles. San Francisco has long been criticized for its lax views on public drug use.

Under new guidelines issued by the city’s Department of Public Health and DPH Director Dan Tsai, individuals must now receive treatment counseling or be connected to services to receive safer drug use supplies.   

“We can no longer accept the reality of two people dying a day from overdose. The status quo has failed to ensure the health and safety of our entire community, as well as those in the throes of addiction. Fentanyl has changed the game, and we’ve been relying on strategies that preceded this new drug epidemic, which ends today,” Lurie said in a press release. “Our new policy will connect individuals to treatment quickly, and that is a big step toward reclaiming our public spaces. I thank Director Dan Tsai for meeting the moment with this evidence-based approach.”  

The policy change is part of Mayor Lurie’s “Breaking the Cycle” plan to address homelessness, opioid addiction and mental health treatment. The fentanyl crisis will now be approached with a focus more on drug treatment versus harm reduction.

“The new approach mandates that any distribution of supplies be paired with proactive treatment counseling and connections to care, requiring distribution programs to provide treatment referrals and on-site engagement to enable entry into services,” the release noted.

Programs that offer smoking supplies must also move indoors and will no longer be able to distribute supplies in public spaces.

The policy goes into effect April 30.