San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins is under scrutiny as a novel initiative designed to combat rampant drug abuse in the city stumbles out of the gate.
The program, which was meant to redirect drug offenders to treatment, has faced an early challenge: participants are simply not showing up.
Jenkins, who took office following the recall of her liberal predecessor Chesa Boudin, launched the initiative under growing pressure to address the pervasive drug problem plaguing San Francisco’s streets.
Her strategy involved ramping up misdemeanor drug arrests and routing repeat offenders through an alternative court system. If these offenders accepted treatment and related services, their charges would be dismissed.
However, the San Francisco Chronicle reported that the initial three participants in the program failed to make their appearances, leading to the issuance of warrants for their arrest.
Among those voicing skepticism is the city’s Public Defender’s Office, which had initially contested Jenkins’ proposal, citing the impracticality of expecting compliance from addicts grappling with homelessness and mental health issues.
“The least effective way to have a person who is unhoused, mentally ill and/or struggling with substance use disorder engage in treatment is to issue them a ticket,” Deputy Public Defender Vilaska Nguyen opined.
He continued, “We’re never going to solve the addiction crisis with arbitrary and coercive approaches.”
Jenkins, however, has not backed down from her conviction that more forceful confrontation of public drug use is essential. She argues that unchecked drug dealing and substance abuse are fracturing the city, causing undue harm to both the afflicted and their neighborhoods.
“Open-air drug dealing and unchecked public drug use is ripping our city apart; people struggling with substance use disorder are dying on our streets while neighborhoods are being held hostage by brazen drug dealers and traffickers,” Jenkins said last week, as per the Chronicle.
In line with her commitment, San Francisco has seen a marked rise in drug arrests over recent weeks, reporting 51 busts since May 30. Despite the initial setbacks, Jenkins remains steadfast in her defense of the initiative.
“We know that this work will be difficult and will not work for everyone, similar to other interventions to help people struggling with addiction,” she said.
“Enforcement as a mechanism to get people into treatment is new for us and will take time to catch on, but we are committed to doing our part to help address the crisis we are seeing on our streets.”
San Francisco’s challenges with drug abuse, quality of life issues, and its perceived leniency towards criminal activities have increasingly become the focal points of criticism, exemplifying the failures of liberal policy approaches.
Case in point, recently presidential candidate and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis made a campaign stop in the city. Following his visit, he launched an advertisement recounting the disturbing scenes of drug use and public disorder he witnessed, effectively spotlighting San Francisco as a case study of a liberal policy gone awry.
RELATED: Democrats in California Senate Advance Controversial Bill Making It Far Easier to Shoplift
