Overdose Surge Sparks SF Debate Over Harm Reduction

KQED's Forum

KQED

Politics, News, News Commentary

4.6 • 656 Ratings

🗓️ 8 March 2022

⏱️ 56 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

San Francisco has long embraced a philosophy of harm reduction in its drug treatment programs. The goal is to prevent deaths and disease by providing clean syringes, medications that help curb addiction, and other judgment-free treatment support. Studies show that this approach does save lives. But now the city is in the midst of a fentanyl-fueled overdose crisis, with more than 1300 deaths over two years. In response, some officials are questioning the effectiveness of the harm reduction model, calling for other options like abstinence-only treatment programs. We’ll discuss the history, science and politics of drug treatment in San Francisco. Guests: Keith Humphreys, professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences, Stanford School of Medicine Vitka Eisen, president and CEO, HealthRIGHT 360 Ahsha Safai, member, San Francisco Board of Supervisors, District 11 Jen Jeffries , former IV drug user currently on methadone. Medication assisted treatment coordinator, San Francisco AIDS Foundation Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Support for Key QBD Podcasts comes from San Francisco International Airport.
0:05.1	At SFO, you can shop, dine, and unwind before your flight.
0:09.2	Go ahead, treat yourself.
0:10.6	Learn more about SFO restaurants and shops at flysfo.com.
0:15.8	Greetings, boomtown.
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0:22.7	So we've all got lightning fast speeds at home and on the go!
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0:32.2	From KQD in San Francisco, I'm Alexis Madrigal.
0:48.6	A tragedy has been unfolding in the streets of San Francisco, our region, and the nation.
0:53.7	Roughly 100,000 people are dying from drug overdoses every 12 months across the country.
1:00.0	In San Francisco alone, 1,300 people have died from drug overdoses in the last two years.
1:06.0	The overdose rate has about tripled just since 2017, largely due to deaths from fentanyl.
1:12.1	In response, some San Francisco politicians are moving away from the harm reduction policies
1:16.7	that have defined the city's response to drugs for years and talking about new abstinence-based programs.
1:22.7	In the era of fentanyl, it's clear the current system isn't working,
1:25.6	but does it return to other responses actually going to work better? That's all next after this news.
1:33.8	Welcome to Forum. I'm Alexis Madrigal. Right now, San Francisco supervisors are contemplating
1:39.1	a different type of drug treatment program in the city. It's based on people getting clean and
1:44.0	transitional housing
1:45.0	before they're slotted into permanent supportive housing. As Kevin Fagan of the San Francisco
	...

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