Battle To Keep People Alive as Fentanyl Ravages SF’s Tenderloin

STOPS YOUR HEART IN SAN FRANCISCO –

April 23, 2022 – This neighborhood and the adjoining South of Market (SoMa) district have become ground zero in an opioid overdose crisis that is killing thousands of California residents, including many experiencing homelessness. In the past two years, more than 1,300 people have died of overdoses in San Francisco, a rise driven by the emergence of fentanyl, a super-potent synthetic opioid that’s 50 times stronger than heroin. Nearly half of those deaths have occurred in these two hard-hit neighborhoods alone. lide Foundation, the parent organization of San Francisco’s Glide Memorial Church, has been advocating for the rights of the poor and disenfranchised communities since the 1960s. Today Glide runs dozens of programs, including support for those struggling with homelessness and addiction.Armed with supplies such as clean syringes, glass pipes, alcohol wipes and bottles of water, their team aims to give people the health tools to make drug use as safe as possible, while working to build the trust that drug users may need to eventually seek help.