During the San Francisco Board of Supervisors’ last meeting of the year this week, Mayor Daniel Lurie discussed how the “Fentanyl State of Emergency Ordinance” has aided the city in addressing its drug addiction and overdose crisis.
Yet despite interventions, the number of overdose deaths so far this year has remained largely unchanged compared to last year.
The ordinance has helped accelerate the opening of beds for addiction and mental health treatment and approving contracts for organizations aimed at providing substance abuse treatment, according to Lurie.
“It has given the city the flexibility it needed to respond to a crisis with urgency, coordination and accountability,” he said at the Dec. 16 meeting. “It continues to be a critical tool in our efforts to save lives and restore safety to our streets.”
The number of lives lost, however, has not changed. From January to November of this year, 589 people died from unintentional drug overdose, compared to 584 deaths for the same period in 2024, according to the Department of Public Health’s preliminary numbers.
One of Lurie’s first administrative acts
Soon after being sworn into office, Lurie signed the Fentanyl State of Emergency Ordinance into law with overwhelming support from supervisors.
While the ordinance was not an official emergency declaration, its passage was intended to avoid bureaucratic delays in accessing funding and approving contracts with organizations aimed at providing treatment for drug addiction.
The ordinance, Lurie said, has helped the city’s Department of Public Health and the Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing quickly secure contracts with nonprofits, opening up hundreds of beds for addiction recovery and behavioral health treatment.
From January to November of this year, 589 people died from unintentional drug overdose, compared to 584 deaths for the same period in 2024.
“The Fentanyl State of Emergency Ordinance is delivering real, immediate results, moving faster than our traditional systems allowed, expanding care and housing, and strengthening the public safety,” Lurie said.
While San Francisco did record the lowest number of unintentional overdose deaths in October this year since it started recording in 2020, the total number so far has barely moved up or down since the passage of the Fentanyl State of Emergency.
Supervisor Bilal Mahmood, who represents the Tenderloin district, is asking Lurie to employ more strategies in tackling the crisis.
“Part of the emergency order was also about finding new approaches to tackle the fentanyl crisis in a holistic and different way,” said Mahmood to Lurie at the meeting.
“One such approach that the fellow supervisors supported via majority resolution is on the ‘drug market intervention’ strategy, which has successfully embedded opioid markets across the United States,” Mahmood said.
Supervisors back market intervention strategy
The drug market intervention strategy, which was developed by criminal justice professor David Kennedy from City University of New York, focuses on boosting collaboration between the community organizations and law enforcement as well as providing non-violent drug dealers with paths to employment and rehabilitation.
Mahmood, along with Supervisor Matt Dorsey, were strong supporters of the strategy. In March, the board passed a non-binding resolution that did not adopt the strategy, but rather urged for the strategy to be implemented.
However, it has not been employed, Mahmood said.
Mahmood asked Lurie, if the board decides to officially adopt the strategy as part of the city’s approach to tackling the drug crisis, would he support it?
“Yes, I will,” Lurie said. “I look forward to working with you, Supervisor Mahmood and you Supervisor Dorsey, and all the others at the board to tackle this crisis in the Tenderloin, SoMa, and wherever else it demands our attention.”