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Supervisor Haney introduces ordinance to permit overdose prevention sites in San Francisco
Summary
Supervisor Haney and Mayor—reed-backed legislation would create a permitting process for nonprofit-run overdose prevention sites; Haney said evidence from abroad shows sites save lives and can connect people to treatment.
Supervisor Haney on March 3 introduced legislation with Mayor London Breed to establish a city permitting process for nonprofit providers to operate an overdose prevention program, also described in the legislation as a safe injection or safe consumption site.
"The permitting process that we've created with this legislation is the necessary next step in combating the opioid crisis," Supervisor Haney said, telling the Board that overdose deaths rose from "259 in 2018 to over 330 overdose deaths in 2019," a figure she described as "nearly 1 person a day." Haney said overdose prevention sites "can save lives, get people into treatment, and reduce drug use on our streets."
Haney framed the ordinance as authorizing the Department of Public Health to establish a permitting process for third-party nonprofit providers staffed by medical professionals. She said the approach would be part of a "broader multi-pronged comprehensive strategy," including expanded street outreach, intake and detox capacity, and better coordination with regional law enforcement to reduce the flow of deadly drugs.
Citing international experience, Haney said more than 100 overdose prevention sites operate in more than 65 cities worldwide and that "no site has experienced an overdose death," while many have referred people into treatment. She also cited a 2017 local task force finding that opening a single overdose prevention program could produce an annual net savings of $3,500,000 in health-care costs.
Haney urged the Board and the public to treat the proposal as an evidence-based public-health tool, and she thanked community partners named in her remarks, including the Safer Inside Coalition, the Drug Policy Alliance, the SF AIDS Foundation, Glide, Saint Anthony's, the Drug Users Union and other frontline providers she said have "saved thousands of lives." The legislation was introduced; no formal vote was taken on the measure at the March 3 meeting.
Why it matters: San Francisco is confronting a sharp year-over-year rise in fatal overdoses, particularly involving fentanyl. The ordinance would create a local regulatory pathway for nonprofit medical teams to run supervised consumption services; opening any site would require permitting, operational plans and further approvals under the permitting process outlined in the measure.
What comes next: The ordinance was introduced and will proceed through the Board's legislative process (committee hearings and subsequent votes). The Department of Public Health and the mayor's office are identified in the legislation as the implementing bodies.
