San Francisco supervisors spar over plans for drug user wellness centers

SAN FRANCISCO - San Francisco supervisors are sparring over a plan to get drug users off the streets and into wellness centers. 

Supervisor Hillary Ronen on Monday criticized Supervisor Matt Dorsey's proposal to scrap the wellness center plans and instead divert millions of dollars into jailhouse programs. 

Ronen said she couldn't believe Dorsey abandoned the plan so suddenly. Dorsey said the plan for wellness hubs has changed so much he can't support them. 

A building at 444 Sixth St. near the Hall of Justice in San Francisco was identified as a future wellness center for drug users, a place to get users off the streets and closer to care and services.

It's an attempt to solve the city's drug problems. But also a concern for people working at the beauty supply business next door. 

"I think it would be bad for our business," said George Maddox of San Francisco. "I feel like they should find another place to put it." 

Dorsey, the supervisor who represents the neighborhood and District 6, originally voted for the idea. But he sent a letter to Mayor London Breed Friday, saying he no longer supports that plan.

"When I signed up for this, the idea was that wellness hub was going to be a safe consumption site. It was going to have other services. There were going to be six centers in six different neighborhoods," said Dorsey.

Dorsey said one reason he is upset is that the number of sites has been reduced. 

"There was going to be six different sites in six different neighborhoods to relieve the pressure. That narrowed down to three sites. One in the Tenderloin, one in the Mission, one in South of Market. Then it narrowed to one site," Dorsey said that was according to The Department of Public Health.

Dorsey also said the city attorney has ruled that none of the wellness centers can have supervised consumption sites because they are illegal under federal law. Dorsey said he no longer thinks the wellness hubs will be effective in reaching drug users. 

Instead, he wants the $18.9 million in funding diverted to help incarcerated drug users through jail health services.

Supervisor Ronen called Dorsey's pivot, a political ploy. She said wellness centers are important and can help drug users, even if they don't offer a supervised consumption space.

"What we can do is fund all the other services that wellness centers provide: counseling, harm reduction supplies, acupuncture, wound treatment, visits with doctors, linkage to recovery abstinence-based programs," said Ronen. 

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Ronen said Dorsey's district already has a harm-reduction center near 6th Street and Mission Street and that it's overwhelmed with demand for services. 

"It provides life-saving care to drug users every day," Ronen said. "Previously 150 people a day were using the services. Now, there is a request of over 500 people a day to request those services," said Ronen. 

So what's next?

Ronen said the wellness center in Dorsey's district and another in the Mission, which she represents, could be ready by the end of the year and a third in the Tenderloin by March of next year. 

Dorsey said he doesn't want to wait around and hopes the mayor will support his request to move the funds immediately to jail programs. 

The mayor has not stated whether she agrees with Dorsey's proposal.