Supervisor Dorsey Urges City to Adopt Drug Market Intervention Strategy; Resolution Introduced

Supervisor Matt Dorsey introduced a resolution proposing that San Francisco adopt a Drug Market Intervention (DMI) strategy to reduce open-air drug markets linked to overdoses, public-safety problems and street-level harms. Dorsey said DMI relies on a three-part model of incapacitation, deterrence and prevention and emphasized tailoring the approach to San Francisco’s context.

Dorsey asked the board to authorize contracting with experts (including reference to Professor David Kennedy’s work) to diagnose local drug-market dynamics and design an integrated, interagency response that pairs targeted enforcement with robust community services, workforce development, and pathways to treatment and recovery. He said the model has produced large market reductions in other cities and proposed leveraging existing interagency task forces.

The resolution was introduced for board consideration and referred to committee; supervisors discussed funding and the need to align public-health and law-enforcement efforts while avoiding punitive-only approaches.