Judge rules lawsuit accusing San Francisco of enabling drug use, crime can proceed

The complaint, which was filed by residents and multiple businesses, alleges that San Francisco city and county lawmakers created a lawless living environment by enabling drug addicts and dealers to come to the area by providing housing, free drug paraphernalia, and street-based support. The city argued in court that its policies could not be linked to the conditions in the neighborhood, but US District Judge Jon Tigar shot the city down, ruling that the plaintiffs established due process for private and public nuisance claims.

Additionally, the complaint alleges that San Francisco allowed drug use and sales in their city-run shelters, and operated a now-shuttered supervised drug consumption lounge where staff distributed drug paraphernalia to addicts. Residents and businesses claim that the city's enabling of drug use has increased petty and violent crime in the neighborhood, which has had a negative impact on their living conditions and business operations.

"The policy of the City has been to corral and confine illegal drug dealing and usage, and the associated injurious behaviors, to the Tenderloin. Addicts living on the Tenderloin's streets foreseeably support their habit by stealing (e.g. shoplifting, car break-ins, burglaries, robberies) and hawking the stolen merchandise on the sidewalks," the complaint alleges. "As their disease progresses, their mental and physical health declines, resulting in them acting erratically, ignoring serious medical problems, rummaging through trash, discarding garbage on the sidewalk around them, going partially clothed, and defecating in public."

"The City-owned sidewalks in the Tenderloin are dangerous, unsanitary, and no longer open and accessible to plaintiffs," the lawsuit stated. "Those involved in narcotics sales block the entrance to [plaintiff's] building, threaten them, and start smoky bonfires."

Business leaders blasted San Francisco for imposing a recent curfew on businesses in the Tenderloin district due to an increase in drug use and crime, which the city said police were unable to control because criminals vastly outnumbered patrol officers. Businesses questioned why the city shut down their businesses instead of enforcing the laws, as per Just The News. The plaintiff's lawsuit mirrors the crime detailed by Mayor London Breed in the directive ordering businesses to comply with the curfew.

Judge Tigar ruled that five of the six claims against the city could proceed, writing in his decision: "Plaintiffs argue that the City's acts, such as the operation of a congregate shelter which allows residents to use and sell narcotics; operation of narcotic consumption sites in the Tenderloin; instruction of SFPD to drop off addicts at the center; distribution or facilitation of the distribution of drug paraphernalia to addicts in the Tenderloin; and street-based support for those that reject shelter and live on the sidewalk have actively placed and encouraged addicts and dealers to come to the Tenderloin which was a substantial factor in producing the harm."