Ending The Fentanyl Crisis
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Hi John,
Today, surrounded by small business, immigrant, and recovery community members, I unveiled my plan to end the open air drug market: a Drug Market Intervention.
Developed by the US Department of Justice, expanded during the Obama Administration, and supported by Supervisor Matt Dorsey and members of the community, this plan mixes community and police action to get actual results on our fentanyl crisis.
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First, we must acknowledge the problem we're facing.
811 loved ones, neighbors, and friends lost to fentanyl dealers. 3500 children who must walk past fentanyl dealers every day. It's heartbreaking and unconscionable. This is not normal.
It is not normal for a city to be down 1000 public health and public safety officers. It is not normal for it to take 255 days on average to hire the officers who could arrest the fentanyl dealers. It is not normal when our current Supervisor says that arresting fentanyl dealers is in turn 'pointless'.
To tackle this crisis, we need to dismantle bureaucracy and break down silos, and trust data and evidence to make decisions.
That is why today I proposed a Drug Market Intervention (DMI) strategy for San Francisco - the only framework that has successfully ended open air drug markets in the USA.
It works in 3 steps:
- Incapacitate the Drug Market - Fully fund the Drug Market Agency Coordination Center and grant it emergency powers (via charter amendment) to accelerate staffing of missing public health and safety officers so they can do one job: arrest the fentanyl dealers.
- Deter the Drug Market - As drug markets evolve new dealers will come in. We will propose budget for programs to provide off-ramps to first-time non-violent offenders who are local to SF. Arresting alone is not sufficient - we must think towards holistic solutions.
- Prevent the Drug Market - Once drug markets are closed, we must prevent it from re-emerging through community intervention. I will collaborate with SFPD to ensure more beat officers are walking patrols, and invest in community services to reduce recidivism.
As Supervisor Dorsey noted in his statement at our press conference, "Drug market intervention is a proven, flexible approach with a strong record of success... this is a strategy I strongly support implementing in San Francisco, and I think it could make a life-saving difference."
In the end, ending the fentanyl crisis isn't about being progressive or moderate. Fentanyl frankly doesn't care about politics. This is about creating better outcomes for the community. Drug Market Interventions have gotten results.
And it's time for District 5 to get results too.
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Sincerely,
Bilal Mahmood
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