Drug-policy reformers were stunned when voters in deep-blue San Francisco overwhelmingly passed a ballot measure this month that reads like a Republican talking point from Richard Nixon’s War on Drugs.
It requires people on government assistance to submit to regular drug screening and mandatory treatment, if they show signs of addiction.
Democrats who have embraced the concept say their rationale has nothing to do with GOP-led efforts of decades past or racially charged tropes about “welfare queens” abusing taxpayer dollars.
They argue the shift is about preserving lives as overdose deaths, mostly fentanyl, skyrocket. It’s also in response to concerns from voters who want officials to get drug users out of public spaces — especially amid San Francisco's deteriorating street conditions, reports Politico.
The effort by Democratic politicians is striking because it’s a change of course after years of liberal cities embracing harm-reduction drug policies like clean needle exchanges and safe-injection sites. It comes amid a l shift toward tough-on-drugs and crime policies in blue cities, where Democrats are exasperated by urban post-pandemic challenges.
Among those favoring the pivot is President Biden’s Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra, a California Democrat whose department oversees much of the administration’s addiction-response efforts.
“Knowing San Francisco well, we should be willing to consider anything that helps us tackle this drug addiction crisis because so many people are dying today,” Becerra told Politico's Health Care Summit this month. “We need to get a grip on this.”
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San Francisco Mayor London Breed’s decision to repurpose the traditionally conservative welfare policy into a ballot measure, known as Proposition F, is derived from a growing frustration among Democratic voters in cities with progressive drug policies. Now, many liberal lawmakers in places llike Oregon and Philadelphia are embracing more coercive approaches.