TRY ANYTHING! –
Jan. 16, 2026 – Voters authorized the program with 2024’s Proposition F, which required adult welfare recipients struggling with addiction to complete a free drug treatment program or risk losing their cash benefits. The measure was proposed by then-Mayor London Breed to stem a perceived tide of “drug tourists” coming to the city to buy drugs and receiving cash aid.
The program provided 358 people with treatment plans last year, according to city records. By Dec. 31, 100 of those people had lost their welfare benefits for “not complying” with treatment. That’s a nearly five-fold increase from last June, although almost half of the people who lost benefits had them restored within the year by returning to the program. While the initiative’s flexible treatment requirements make it hard to assess how many people have stopped using drugs, program administrator Khyla Bussey believes leveraging cash support has pushed more people toward recovery. City records show that 55 people completed their treatment plans last year and roughly 200 more were still in treatment by the year’s end.
