By now, just about everybody knows that San Francisco is grappling with the worst drug crisis in the city’s history. You can't argue with dead bodies, after all. Our morgue is full of them. Even more crowded are our city streets, teeming with users and addicts who are barely alive. The growing squalor and crime that has followed are also indisputable.
Now, finally, there is movement toward change. And some don’t like it one bit.
Fentanyl Flows, People Die, City Crumbles
Fentanyl is the current substance of choice for addicts and dealers. People from all over the country come to San Francisco to buy it because it's particularly cheap here. And for the most part, dealers and users have been left alone.
Almost everyone who sells drugs on the blocks and street corners of District 6 are Honduran nationals who entered the country illegally. If you would like to confirm or dispute this fact, I strongly suggest you spend quite a bit of time in the district. Just be careful; it's dangerous. Even the San Francisco Chronicle reported on the murderous chaos armed drug dealers bring to the city.
The overdoses, though. It’s agonizing to confront the human toll. In 2022 alone, 622 people overdosed in San Francisco; 72 percent as a result of fentanyl.
So far San Francisco leaders have allowed the dealers to take over entire blocks of the city. It has been an absolute disaster, and not only for the drug users. Citizens, business owners, and workers have all been negatively impacted. San Francisco's reputation has been deeply damaged.
Drug Dealers Enjoy Sanctuary
San Francisco is a sanctuary city, which means that people who have entered the country unlawfully and who are dealing drugs are protected against deportation.
Enter Matt Dorsey, the newly elected supervisor of District 6. Dorsey is in recovery and has made helping the city overcome the drug crisis a priority. He has proposed legislation that, if enacted, would result in some drug dealers who are convicted of selling fentanyl in San Francisco to lose sanctuary law protection and potentially face deportation.
Naturally, there was outrage among activists. And, just as naturally, a rally to protest the proposed legislation was cobbled together. It was on February 28, at noon, on the steps of City Hall.
Waylaid: Helping a Man Regain Some Semblance of Dignity
I walked to the rally from my home, and I was doing well on time. It’s always emotionally tough, the closer I get to the Tenderloin. It’s one inhumane scene after another. I don’t become numb to it, but I have to analyze the situation. Is there anything I can do to help? Too often the answer is no.
But when I saw a small person curled up like a little snail on the corner of Hyde and Ellis, my heart broke (again, again). His bottom was completely exposed and caked with dirt and excrement. A crowd of people using drugs was close by, unaware or unconcerned. The little man was still grasping a straw and burned foil.
“Sir, sir, can you hear me?” I asked, kneeling. I knew there wasn't much I could do, but at the very least I wanted him to not have his bottom viewable to the world. It was just too sad.
Another woman stopped and joined in. She was holding a torch, which is used to light and smoke fentanyl. Together, we yelled loud enough to rouse the man, but he couldn't stand. I reached out, but I was unsure where to hold him. He was very frail.
“Your pants are down, pull them up, put them up,” the woman said kindly. Eventually he did, smiling and nodding.
The woman and I walked off together. She was having a bad day. Someone had stolen her belongings. Oh my goodness could this be what the Coalition on Homelessness is fighting against? City authorities taking homeless peoples’ things? No. Apparently a man she thought was a friend let her smoke fentanyl in his car, and when she went out to get more drugs he left, taking her bag with him.
The Rally: Hollow Rhetoric
Because of the incident with the man, I arrived at the rally a few minutes late so I missed supervisor Hillary Ronen's (D-9) speech. I made it for others, including supervisors Dean Preston (D-8), Shamann Walton (D-10), and Mano Raju, the city’s public defender.
Here’s what they and the other speakers claimed, in a nutshell:
Deporting these poor fentanyl dealers is racist and will result in them being persecuted and harmed if they are sent home. They are innocent young victims who are really just fine, upstanding residents who deserve to be in the city.
Yes, that’s basically it.
This is to be expected in San Francisco by the vocal fringe, but not for much longer. Their power is fading.
There were far more people on the steps of City Hall than there were attendees. The misery on the streets is impossible to hide. Trying to drum up excitement about inequity falls short because clearly those suffering and dying on the streets are disproportionately people of color.
Given the reality of the circumstances, none of the speeches resonated with truth. The speekers seemed to know it.
It’s Time to Say Goodbye to the Fentanyl Dealers
As I was leaving the rally, I ran into a friend who goes by JJ Smith on Twitter. He was with Noah, a sweet 19-year old with a bad Fentanyl habit. JJ has become one of the city’s many heroes, doing the job for free that ought to be done by paid city employees. He routinely walks the Tenderloin, makes connections, and assists people who are in the sickest condition access real assistance and care. I asked JJ what he thought of the rally.
“What they said makes no sense,” he replied. “I talk to dealers, lots of them, and they haven’t been trafficked here. They come to make money.”
Wisdom does exist in San Francisco. Allowing communities to be overrun - and in fact, run - by people who arrive to sell the most addictive and toxic substances is wrong. Now we must begin to repair the horrific damage this illegal drug trade has caused. We can’t resurrect the thousands who have overdosed and died, but we can take steps to stop the dealers from continuing their illegal and unethical business.


Your heart breaks because you have failed to exercise an important tool which leads to stable societies and human dignity; To judge others based on their fruits and actions. Do not throw your pearls before swine, lest they turn and render you. Illegal Honduran migrants. Don't be sad, get angry, and stay angry. You could do all this stuff you talk about, which won't change anything in the long run, or simply deport those people. Think they're going to change because of some altered government policy? Think again. There is no fixing this. Deport now.
Erica - the part about the poor guy with his pants down is likely all too common. A great City could use many more free public toilets. I hear Europe understands how to set these things up.
The innocent victimized drug dealers part is pathetic. I remember when Shaman Walton was intent n shutting down Juvenile Hall - his alma mater, because he thinks there is just no value in it. Let's re-imagine the SFPD - maybe get Willy Wonka over here to help sort things out? Forgive me, but this just seems too much like watching Rome burn.