San Francisco Supervisor demands quota of 100 daily arrests for public drug users, involuntary detox

San Francisco Supervisor Matt Dorsey has called for immediate measures to address open-air drug usage, including at least 100 nightly arrests, involuntary holds, and mandatory treatment and detox. Dorsey, a former addict, stated in a letter dated Friday that city public safety agencies had 30 days to develop a plan of action.

The demand follows the ongoing drug-driven criminal activity on the quarter mile stretch of 6th Street in San Francisco's South of Market neighborhood, which has had high levels of open-air drug use and crime. Authorities estimate at least 200 people are lighting up illicit drugs in the area on any given night.

Dorsey said it is past time to confront the issue head-on, which is why he is advocating for mass arrests of drug users and placing them in "compulsory detox and treatment" to save their lives. He wanted to see no less than 100 arrests per night and accused the city of enabling drug addiction, according to the letter.

"Historically, most of the work that we're doing is focused on drug dealers, and I think that's something that needs to continue, but we also need to be making criminal justice interventions in public drug use," Dorsey told ABC 7 News. "We do need to be making arrests of drug users with an eye toward making sure that any criminal justice intervention we make is a medical and life-saving intervention."

Dorsey stated in the letter that the plan of intent would hold "those estimated to be engaging in drug-related lawlessness criminally accountable."

"As we begin the new year, new approaches are urgently needed to restore order to our streets, to diminish San Francisco's attraction as a destination city for drug use and drug dealing, and to make lifesaving interventions in behavior that's deadlier and more costly than ever before," said Dorsey, who acknowledged his journey recovering from drug addiction.

"I know I'm not alone among recovery community members in believing strongly in the life-changing possibilities of recovery and drug treatment - including court-mandated treatment. Like many other San Franciscans, in long-term recovery and otherwise, I think it's past time for our City to move boldly beyond practices that have amounted to drug enablism and neglectful cruelty," he wrote. Dorsey asked for an approach to "get drug-related offenders off the streets - and optimally into drug treatment - rather than simply moved to different streets."

Dorsey slammed the city's longtime "harm reduction" approach, saying as a former addict himself, he has taken the drug enablement personally.

"What may have worked in the heroin era is not working in the fentanyl era. We are facing drugs that are deadlier than ever before in human history," he told the network. "And we're seeing levels of addiction-driven lawlessness that we have never seen even in a city that has taken a permissive approach to drug use in years past."

Dorsey's letter of inquiry was directed to the San Francisco Police Department, San Francisco Sheriff's Office, San Francisco Fire Department, San Francisco Department of Public Health, and the San Francisco District Attorney's Office. These agencies have 30 days to devise a plan for large-scale arrests and involuntary holds.