San Francisco Scales Back Harm Reduction Policy

KQED's Forum

KQED

Politics, News, News Commentary

4.6 • 656 Ratings

🗓️ 9 April 2025

⏱️ 56 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie is scaling back a key part of the city’s harm reduction strategy: the free distribution of clean foil pipes and plastic straws in public settings. These supplies are typically used to smoke fentanyl or methamphetamines. We talk to addiction specialists about how this policy change might impact drug use in the city. Guests: Keith Humphreys, professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences, Stanford School of Medicine Tyler TerMeer, CEO, San Francisco AIDS Foundation Sydney Johnson, reporter, KQED News Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Support for KikiWED podcasts comes from Rancho LaPuerta, boated the number one wellness resort and spa by readers of travel and leisure magazine.
0:09.1	In August, three or four people sharing a casita enjoy special vacation packages. Rancho LaPuerta.com.
0:15.8	Greetings boomtown. The Xfinity Wi-Fi is booming!
0:19.5	Xfinity combines the power of Internet and mobile.
0:22.7	So we've all got lightning fast speeds at home and on the go!
0:26.2	Learn more at Xfinity.com.
0:28.1	Restrictions apply.
0:28.8	Xfinity, Internet required.
0:29.9	Actual speeds vary.
0:32.2	From KQED.
0:33.2	Thank you. From KQD in San Francisco, I'm Alexis Madrigal.
0:48.6	Drug use in San Francisco is a highly contentious issue.
0:53.0	The city long had a permissive approach stretching back
0:55.6	decades. It was one of the leaders in reducing HIV transmission among drug users via a series
1:02.5	of practices known as harm reduction. But in the fentanyl and meth era of the last decade,
1:09.3	the practices of handing out clean supplies have come under fire.
1:14.2	Now, Mayor Daniel Lurie is altering some of the city's public health practices.
1:19.1	We're going to talk about what's happening and why.
1:21.6	It's all coming up next right after this news. Welcome to Forum.
1:37.6	I'm Alexis Madrigal.
1:39.8	Here's a pretty brutal truth.
1:41.9	Most drug treatment doesn't work.
	...

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