San Francisco Mayor London Breed was hammered after proposing that drug addicts get tested and treated before receiving welfare services from the city.

(Video Credit: KRON 4)

Breed made the desperate proposal on Tuesday that would implement mandatory drug testing and treatment for welfare recipients who are also addicts. She is under increasing pressure to do something about the homeless population and the exploding fentanyl crises in the City by the Bay. Contenders for her position are salivating in the wings as she struggles to handle the situation.

“No more anything goes without accountability. No more handouts without accountability. In order to get resources from our city, you will need to be in a substance use disorder program and consistently seeking treatment,” Breed stated.

“She’s in trouble,” former San Francisco councilman and business owner Tony Hall told Fox News Digital in an interview.

“She’s found her administration is under increasing fire from the voters in San Francisco. She has to do something about the drug situation in San Francisco. So this is her latest salvo, trying to sound like a conservative in that she’s really doing something. She does this periodically whenever she’s in trouble. There’s no follow through,” he claimed.

Fentanyl is like nothing we’ve ever seen before. More people are getting addicted, and tragically more people are dying. We are offering services and enforcing our laws to shut down open-air drug markets. But we need to do more.https://t.co/vAAk8HlbTi

— London Breed (@LondonBreed) September 27, 2023

Despite that fact, Hall also said that the mayor’s proposal was the “right approach” for handling drug use among welfare recipients in San Francisco. However, he has his doubts she will actually follow through and enforce it.

“They should be drug tested and there should be a mechanism in place to not only help them, but ensure that they’re tested,” Hall said regarding welfare recipients. “So she has done nothing. There is no mechanism in place to set up the testing. So she knew this announcement and this is typical. She makes these announcements and nothing happens and that’s why the city is the way it is.”

Predictably, drug users are incensed over the proposed mandate. One of them told the San Francisco Chronicle that it’s “our choice to use.”

Homeless individuals told ABC7 they were very concerned about the move and Supervisor Hillary Ronen called the proposal “disturbing” and harmful to users attempting to recover from addiction.

Our City agencies are continuing to work in close collaboration with state and federal partners to address the open-air drug markets on our streets. We have serious challenges that require our full attention to bring forward sustainable solutions. pic.twitter.com/qGC1aeZrKR

— London Breed (@LondonBreed) September 27, 2023

“So, in other words, we’re going to hit you over the head with more punishment,” Ronen asserted to the San Francisco Standard. “Do we really think the best way to get people better is by kicking them more when they’re down?”

Safety and security expert Bill Stanton commented that those on welfare should have to abide by government rules.

“It’s not like the government is forcing you. This is giving individuals an option,” Stanton remarked, according to Fox News. “If you want to collect from the government, this is where you need to be compliant.”

He also says that drug use and addiction could create a downward spiral of crime which the city is already demonstrably seeing.

At 7.45am I had to redirect dozens of school children off Chenery so they could avoid this man. I asked him if he needed help and he said he needed to go to the hospital to come off his high. SF- we need to do better. In 20 years living here it’s never been this bad. @LondonBreed pic.twitter.com/goTeYuWt7T

— karen park (@karenparksf) September 29, 2023

“But them having an addiction to drugs while on the government dime?” Stanton asked. “In my opinion, from a safety and security standpoint, it is wrong. Drugs lead to addiction. Addiction can lead to crime, if users don’t have the money to pay for it. And then crime leads to victims. And it becomes a vicious cycle.”

He wants the mayor to “set up a program [so] that those who fail drug testing get help, and then once they get off of the drug, they can get back on government assistance.”

“That’s how you earn it,” Stanton contended. “By getting well.”

“I think Mayor Breed’s plan to require drug testing and treatment to receive homeless services is a step in the right direction,” forensic psychiatrist and expert witness Dr. Carole Lieberman told FOX News Digital via a statement. “San Francisco has been allowed — by Democratic mayors — to become a snake pit. There needs to be some requirements for the homeless to get services or they will continue their self-destructive path towards death while bleeding the city dry.”

London Breed, the mayor of San Francisco wants to implement drug testing for welfare recipients.

People are losing their minds over the suggestion.

So tax payers should just keep paying for these people to not work and get high all day?

RIP USA

— JohnGalt (@JohnJGaltrules) September 29, 2023

Board of Supervisors President Aaron Peskin released a statement declaring that Breed should focus on stopping dealers and open-air drug markets rather than “drug testing people on welfare. If she can’t find the way to prevent several hundred brazen criminals from selling deadly drugs – how does she think she will find the resources to drug test thousands of welfare recipients?”

Breed made the announcement in a very calculated fashion by standing with Supervisor Matt Dorsey, a recovering addict and former spokesperson for the police department.

This is about bringing all the solutions we have forward. To lead with compassion and accountability.

We have to try for those who need treatment, for those who are at risk of dying, and for our frustrated neighborhoods and residents.

— London Breed (@LondonBreed) September 27, 2023

“San Francisco is a city of compassion, but also a city that demands accountability,” Breed declared in a statement. “We fund a wide range of services, and we want to help people get the care they need but under current state law, local government lack tools to compel people into treatment. This initiative aims to create more accountability and help get people to accept the treatment and services they need.”

“I strongly support Mayor Breed’s initiative, which will better incentivize treatment and recovery for a population that’s at wildly disproportionate risk for drug addiction and overdose fatalities,” Dorsey stated. “We’re facing an unprecedented loss of life in San Francisco, and we know coercive interventions can work.”

Breed’s office claims that the mayor is “focused on getting fentanyl and other drugs plaguing our communities off the streets.”

Who is going to win the mayor’s office in 2024? If this continues, it won’t be you London @LondonBreed @DanielLurie pic taken Sept 28, 2023 around 9am pic.twitter.com/YGEr4yktmd

— End the Containment Zone, arrest drug dealers (@Tenderloin94109) September 28, 2023

“The work to tackle the overdose crisis includes expanding treatment and services. The City is investing in residential care and treatment spaces expansion, a growth in abstinence-based program offerings, as well as additional overdose prevention support in high-risk settings for those who are experiencing homelessness on our streets and in single room occupancy hotel settings,” a statement out of her office claimed.

For the new rules to go into effect, the legislation must be approved by the Board of Supervisors through a majority vote.

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