A man wearing dark clothing stands behind a table with syringes and trays of other medical supplies. The words "THIS SITE SAVES LIVES" above "ESTE SITIO SALVA VIDAS" are painted in blue in large letters high on the wall behind him.

Overdose Prevention Centers — Nonstarter in SF, Despite Success in NYC

San Francisco officials appear to have abandoned efforts to open facilities where people can consume drugs under supervision — even as more cities adopt the model to prevent deadly overdoses.

Recent studies show that overdose prevention centers save lives, keep people from consuming drugs in public and do not lead to increased crime.

Aurelia Ramirez walks by tents and debris along Folsom Street.

Overdose Deaths Swell Among SF’s Maya Residents, Highlighting Urgent Need for Culturally Competent Drug Health Services

Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, San Francisco’s Mayans have been dying of drug overdoses at elevated rates. More robust health services are needed, experts say, and providers should be culturally competent and able to communicate effectively with these residents, who may not be fluent in English or Spanish.

Election Money Pours in for San Francisco Judges’ Seats That Used to Go Uncontested

In California, the governor appoints superior court judges to fill seats across 58 counties. Terms are typically six years, and judges keep their positions unless they’re recalled, which happens rarely, or someone decides to run against them in a local election. Usually, judges don’t face challengers.

But a pair of San Francisco judges are running to stay on the bench in the upcoming March 5 election. The last time sitting judges faced such challenges here was in the June 2018 primary election, and the challengers lost.

Voters might be wondering why they’re being asked to make this decision.

A metal ballot box covered with colorful decals featuring election information is located on a sidewalk in front of a green lawn with the tall columns of San Francisco's City Hall in the background.

What You Might Find on Your San Francisco Ballot: Party County Central Committees

If you vote in California and you’re registered with the Peace and Freedom, Green, Republican or Democratic parties, you’ll get to make some extra choices in the March 5 election that only come around once every four years — the representatives who run your party at the local level. 

In San Francisco, voters registered with those four parties received ballots that included candidates for their party’s presidential primary and also candidates for their respective county central committee, which the Green Party refers to as its county council. These are the people who officially run those parties in San Francisco. They decide which measures and candidates the party will endorse, and they support the formation of local political clubs. They also coordinate in various ways with their parties at the state and national levels.

For this “Civic” episode, we talked with representatives from the four parties that run county committees in San Francisco, and with Theo Ellington, vice president of Northern California for Strategies 360, a political strategy firm, to give a more general overview of the system.

A woman with short, platinum blonde hair wearing glasses and a T-shirt printed with the words "Heath Justice for All" speaks into a microphone at a podium where she is standing near a woman and two men, all wearing white lab coats, in front of a red wall.

Drug Policy, Addictions Specialists Oppose Prop F Tying Welfare to Drug Tests

Numerous drug policy experts and addictions specialists from across the country — as close as UCSF and as far away as Rhode Island — publicly oppose a San Francisco ballot measure that would compel adult welfare recipients to undergo drug screening before collecting cash benefits.

And efforts to publicize the measure have brought practitioners who don’t always agree about addiction treatment practices to the same side of the debate.

A young Latina with straight, long dark hair wears a lilac top and a jean jacket. She is smiling standing on a sidewalk near the intersection of a city street.

SF Students, SRO Residents Train to Reverse Drug Overdoses

Experts in overdose prevention say many teen and adult lives could be saved if more people know how to identify and respond to overdoses. In San Francisco, an array of programs are providing overdose response training to teenagers, college and medical-school students, and residents in neighborhoods that have a high rate of overdose deaths.