Criminalizing Drug Use: San Francisco and the Overdose Crisis Part 3

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San Francisco and the Overdose Crisis Part 3

*Content Warning: Explicit language and a description of an overdose experience.*

San Francisco city officials have decided that arresting unhoused people for using drugs is the way to get them into treatment programs. Critics say jails are no place to get clean. And besides, forcing people into rehab doesn’t work. Based on the rate of treatment refusal by those arrested, the critics have a point. In the third episode of our series on San Francisco and the overdose crisis, we take a historical look at policing drug use and the massive hurdles that are getting in the way.