XPost: alt.society.liberalism, alt.california, sac.politics   
   XPost: alt.politics.democrats   
   From: yourdime@outlook.com   
      
   San Francisco is being engulfed by a “tidal wave” of overdoses with deadly   
   fentanyl claiming 62 lives out of 71 total deaths from drug overdoses last   
   month, according to grim statistics released by city’s Medical Examiner’s   
   office.   
      
   The liberal Northern California city is in the midst of a crime, homeless   
   and drugs crisis and the results were released on the same day as a new   
   report which concluded “City hall is failing” its citizens.   
      
   The overdose figures also place San Francisco on course to break a 2020   
   record for total number of overdoses, when 712 people died according to   
   the San Francisco Chronicle.   
      
   “This tidal wave of fentanyl continues to overwhelm our communities,” Dr.   
   Grant Colfax, San Francisco health department director, told the   
   newspaper.   
      
   “The department recognizes that the tragic, continuing rise of overdose   
   deaths in San Francisco is unacceptable and we want everyone to know we   
   are responding with urgency and with our full attention.”   
      
   Colfax said his department plans to open 10 more “wellness hubs” where   
   drug users can get treatment, but that model has drawn criticism after the   
   controversial $22 million Tenderloin Linkage Center was shut down last   
   December.   
      
   Critics said the center only created more problems and crime as addicts   
   openly used drugs inside. City officials have said open use of narcotics   
   in such areas was never technically legally allowed.   
      
   San Francisco health officials are scrambling to find ways to address the   
   uptick in overdose deaths, pushing to make medications such as methadone   
   and Narcan more available throughout the city.   
      
   However, former senior DEA special agent Michael Brown told The Post   
   liberal policies are a part of the problem that has lead to the explosion   
   of overdoses in cities across the country.   
      
   “At some point, you have to realize these drug reduction methods and   
   allowing open-drug use is a complete and utter failure.   
      
   “These progressive harm-reduction programs say, ‘It’s OK to use fentanyl.   
   We’ll help you use it safely. Come into my injection site location and we   
   will give you Narcan.’ This isn’t a Lazarus moment. There is no safe way   
   to use drugs and we have to come out and say fentanyl is deadly. Period,”   
   said Brown, who is now global director of counter-narcotics technology at   
   Rigaku Analytical Devices.   
      
   Open drug use continues at all hours in the Tenderloin area of San   
   Francisco, with homeless addicts passing out on the streets overnight, who   
   only move in the daytime when crews from local non-profits try to clean   
   the streets in the early morning.   
      
   San Francisco residents said the drug and homelessness problem, and the   
   exodus of businesses have contributed to the collapse of the once thriving   
   Downtown area, according to a study released by TogetherSF and the Rose   
   Institute of State and Local Government at Claremont McKenna College.   
      
   “San Franciscans are pessimistic about the future of their city, with more   
   than three-quarters of voters saying the City is headed down the ‘wrong   
   track’.   
      
   “In recent surveys, voters cite housing affordability, homelessness, and   
   crime as some of the most vexing problems facing the City,” the study   
   said, placing the blame on City Hall.   
      
   The study also noted San Francisco lost 7.5% of its population in a two   
   year period between 2020 and 2022, many more people than comparable urban   
   areas such as Los Angeles, which lost only 1.1% of its population in the   
   same time.   
      
   Brown said progressive policies which allow wellness hubs and harm-   
   reduction programs only serve as incubators for drug traffickers.   
      
   “When you look at the Tenderloin, these have become controlled   
   experimental groups for the cartel,” he said.   
      
   “When they have a new drug to test, they go to this open drug market   
   because there isn’t going to be any interference from the police. They   
   view addicts as limitless test rats who are willing to put something new   
   in their arm if you tell them it’s the next best thing to get that high.”   
      
   Another drug that has been introduced into the pipeline is flurofentanyl—   
   another synthetic drug that appears as a white crystalline solid, but has   
   been blended into other drugs by traffickers.   
      
   Flurofentanyl — which has a side effect of slowing a user’s heart rate   
   down and causing irregular breathing — was found in dozens of overdoses in   
   San Francisco last year, according to the medical examiner’s office.   
      
   While San Francisco Mayor London Breed brought in the National Guard and   
   California Highway Patrol officers to help combat trafficking and other   
   drug-related crimes, critics said a lack of arrests and prosecution won’t   
   deter addicts and drug-traffickers.   
      
   “As long as we have these liberal policies that think you can put your   
   arms around a problem and just ‘hug’ it away, this will only continue to   
   grow,” Brown said.   
      
   “All across the board, you see progressive policies in California,   
   Colorado, Portland, Washington, New York that support harm reduction. That   
   is like trying to train a rattlesnake not to bite you. It’s a political   
   issue at this point and until the politics are resolved, the criminality   
   won’t be resolved either.”   
      
   Yorkville90   
   22 August, 2023   
      
   This is the goal, so I don’t understand the complaints. Fentanyl is   
   allowed to come into our country. That’s what we want or we would stop it.   
   We don’t want to prosecute crimes and let criminals off with no   
   repercussions. That’s what we have. We are achieving what was set out to   
   be accomplished. We should be rejoicing, not complaining. Congratulations   
   on a job well done, American politicians!   
      
   Weasel1   
   22 August, 2023   
      
   At the risk of being callous, isn’t this attrition benefitting society?   
   Every man’s death diminishes me, as the saying goes, but for the most part   
   these deaths are not sudden nor unexpected, those participating in the   
   hard drug culture are assuming that risk when they choose to indulge.   
   Sadly, death happens. But we have to assign responsibility where it lies,   
   at the fully aware user level.   
      
   https://nypost.com/2023/08/22/san-francisco-hit-with-tidal-wave-of-   
   overdose-deaths/   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)