Tue May 09 2023

Hundreds of people are dying from drug overdoses every year in San Francisco, and the rate of deaths has spiked. In the same time frame, thousands more overdoses are reversed. Public health and harm reduction workers battling the opioid crisis are calling for the creation of safe consumption sites, which offer a place to use while trained staff are on duty to intervene if someone overdoses. Critics fear they would attract crime and open drug use and enable addiction, but city leaders have almost universally supported establishing a site in San Francisco. Despite that support, plans to establish them appear stalled. In this episode, we explore why that is. Advocates Madeleine Sweet, an overdose survivor in recovery, and Ellen Grantz, with the group Mothers Against Drug Addiction and Death, delve into the controversy around safe consumption sites.