SAN FRANCISCO, CA – Former San Francisco Supervisor Dean Preston issued a recent critique of Mayor Daniel Lurie’s handling of the city’s drug crisis, warning that the newly launched crackdown on drug use is not only ineffective but also deadly.
In a blog post released this week, Preston pointed to a staggering 50% spike in overdose deaths since Lurie took office, calling the administration’s “mass arrest strategy” a continuation of failed War on Drugs policies.
“In just three months under Mayor Daniel Lurie’s leadership, San Francisco has seen a 50% spike in overdose deaths, with 192 lives lost in early 2025 alone,” Preston said. “That’s nearly two people dying daily from preventable causes.”
Preston argues that instead of ushering in a new era of solutions, the mayor has recycled tired strategies that prioritize political optics over proven public health responses. Lurie’s early tenure was marked by the rollout of a “Fentanyl State of Emergency” ordinance and a “Breaking the Cycle” initiative—both of which Preston likened to similar announcements under former Mayor London Breed. “What actually changed when he took office?” Preston asked. “The doubling down on aggressive police sweeps, mass arrests for drug use, and rolling back on harm reduction programs.”
According to Preston, this aggressive strategy may please “law-and-order” constituents, but it is worsening conditions on the ground. “People in active addiction are being shuffled from one block to another, arrested, jailed, and released in a revolving door that does nothing to reduce drug use or prevent deaths,” he said.
Research supports Preston’s claims. A 2022 San Francisco-specific study concluded that traditional policing approaches “did not reduce arrests or incarceration and were associated with a risk of future overdose fatalities.”
Preston noted that the city is not just failing to solve the problem—it is actively exacerbating it by draining resources from lifesaving interventions and funneling them into punitive cycles.
“Strategies like these drain money from real solutions to fund headlines,” Preston said. “Arresting people for their addiction leads to substantially greater overdose fatalities.”
The supervisor also accused the mayor of sidelining science-backed public health interventions like overdose prevention centers, supportive housing, and expanded access to treatment, even as addiction and homelessness persist across the city. “Neighborhood residents report increasing street drug activity—the predictable result of a strategy that focuses on moving people block to block instead of helping them get off the street and address their addiction,” Preston said.
As San Francisco’s crisis deepens, Preston is calling on Mayor Lurie to embrace a public health-centered model. He and other advocates have already laid out a path forward. In December 2024, Preston’s office commissioned a detailed roadmap for how San Francisco could implement Zurich’s acclaimed Four Pillars approach—comprising prevention, treatment, harm reduction, and law enforcement. Supervisor Hillary Ronen is reportedly holding a hearing on the plan this week.
“Now is a great time for San Francisco to change course and use a strategy proven to work, save lives, and improve street conditions,” Preston said. “Mayor Lurie can continue selling the public a failed fantasy that we can arrest our way out of the fentanyl crisis—or he can lead this city into a new era grounded in compassion, evidence, and care.”
With overdose deaths nearing a record pace and community frustration rising, the question now is whether City Hall will shift away from its punitive approach and embrace a model that addresses addiction as a health issue, not a crime.
