He sent out a letter to city Controller Ben Rosenfield and Chief Economic Expert Ted Egan on Monday asking for help identifying what it would take to approximate the financial stress that neglected addiction locations on the local budget plan.
Dorsey’s objective is to develop a biennially-updated “right to recovery” report designed in part after an Oregon research study that discovered that federal government costs on substance use taken in almost 17% of that state’s 2017 budget plan.
It’s the most recent effort by Dorsey, who is in recovery from drug and alcohol abuse, to deal with the city’s epidemic of overdose deaths driven mostly by fentanyl. The city’s behavioral health budget plan for this is $597 million, that includes mental health and addiction treatment, however that number does not completely encapsulate what addiction costs the city.
Dorsey stated in an interview that he would delay to the controller and primary financial expert about exactly what the analysis of neglected addiction costs need to require. However he stated the price quote might look at such locations as the criminal justice system, emergency action and even effects on the foster care system when drug users are not able to care for their kids.
A previous cops representative selected to the Board of Supervisors this year by Mayor London Type, Dorsey formerly stated he desired to develop cops “drug enforcement concern zones” around centers that serve people with substance or alcohol use disorder.
Dorsey hasn’t yet presented legislation that would develop the enforcement zones. He stated he’s still crafting information of his legal proposition with the City Lawyer’s Workplace and other city authorities.
However independent of that effort, he hopes that an price quote of neglected addiction costs might provide important insights to his constituents in District 6, that includes the South of Market area that is one of the centers of San Francisco’s overdose crisis.
” As we dispute costs to fix drug- associated damages, I desire a clear-eyed view of how much it’s costing San Francisco taxpayers today not to fix drug- associated damages,” he composed in the letter.
A representative for the controller’s workplace stated it prepared to carry out the “analytical scoping workout” that Dorsey asked for in his letter.
The letter comes as San Francisco leaders battle to make inroads on the overdose crisis that has actually eliminated more than 1,500 people because 2020– even more than the 3 previous years integrated. Most just recently, Gov. Gavin Newsom banned legislation that would have permitted San Francisco to established a monitored usage website for drug users, though city leaders desire to have a regional not-for-profit set one up anyhow.
Dorsey stated the price quote on the costs of drug addiction would work when the Board of Supervisors and the mayor choose how to designate the city budget plan.
” Preferably, it would be great, as we’re beginning the budget plan season, to have a number that we can count on and that is a clear-eyed view of what it is costing us not to fix these issues,” Dorsey stated. “That will help me as an supporter for what we require to invest to fix these issues.”
The overdose crisis and its effect on public health and street conditions in District 6 are factoring into Dorsey’s project for election this November, where his attempting to beat his primary opposition Honey Mahogany.
Mahogany, who was primary of staff to Dorsey’s predecessor Matt Haney, called Dorsey’s letter “a really expensive of method of stating prevention is the most cost-effective technique of treatment.” She stated she currently understood that to hold true because of her background in social work.
” It is definitely great to have more information about these effects, however eventually, we currently understand the services: properly staffing and financing mental health services to prevent people from falling under crisis and getting them into treatment AS SOON AS POSSIBLE,” Mahogany stated.
She stated the city would be helped by the complete application of the Mental Health SF legislation that the Board of Supervisors passed in late 2019 to overhaul San Francisco’s mental health and substance use treatment services. Haney, Mahogany’s previous employer, co-authored the legislation.
” This for me highlights why it is so crucial to have an independent voice in Town Hall … who has years of experience doing this work,” Mahogany stated in the text. “We understand how to repair this, and we require to hold the city responsible for its failure to do what it understands it requires to do.”
J.D. Morris (he/him) is a San Francisco Chronicle staff author. Email: jd.morris@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @thejdmorris