A version of this piece first appeared on Michael Shellenberger
San Francisco Mayor London Breed generated national news media coverage last December when she announced a sweeping crackdown on open air drug use and drug dealing in the downtown Tenderloin neighborhood.
Shortly after, she announced a 'linkage center' aimed at connecting homeless street addicts with drug rehab facilities.
Breed's announcement came in the midst of a local, state, and national debate over whether the city should open a 'supervised drug consumption' site as a tactic for reducing drug overdose deaths.
In fact, the illicit drug consumption site has been up and running since Tuesday inside the linkage center, which is located at 1172 Market Street.
The linkage center is located in the United Nations Plaza, the city's largest open air drug market. The supervised drug consumption area is an outdoor fenced section of the linkage center.
There is an on-going national debate over the efficacy of supervised drug consumption sites, which are prohibited by state and federal laws, and a continuing local debate over whether and where to open one in San Francisco.
Mayor Breed and members of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors have advocated a supervised drug consumption site, and purchased two properties in the Tenderloin to serve people suffering from addiction.
But the city never approved the creation of a supervised consumption site at the linkage center and the site is in violation of state and federal laws.
We are the first to report on the operation of the illegal supervised drug consumption site at the linkage center.
The two of us witnessed a half-dozen people smoking fentanyl in an outdoor area on the site, and two people passed out at a table.
An employee of a city contractor at the linkage center told us that two people had overdosed and been revived since the site opened on Tuesday.
When confronted with evidence that the linkage center housed a drug consumption site, spokespersons for Urban Alchemy and for Mayor London Breed declined to comment.
The illicit drug consumption site (above) has been up and running since Tuesday inside the linkage center, which is located at 1172 Market Street.
The linkage center is located in the United Nations Plaza, the city's largest open air drug market. The supervised drug consumption area is an outdoor fenced section of the linkage center (shown above).
Gary McCoy (left), the Director of Public Policy and Public Affairs with city drug treatment service provider HealthRite360 and Paul Harkin (right), the Director of Harm Reduction Services at Glide Memorial were at the site.
But the linkage site, and the supervised drug site within it, are operating under the supervision of city employees and city contractors, including HealthRite360, Glide Memorial, and Urban Alchemy.
An employee of Urban Alchemy repeatedly confirmed to us that the outdoor area was a supervised 'consumption site,' but a public relations official on site denied to another reporter, Erica Sandberg, that there was a consumption site at the linkage center.
Sandberg first learned of the supervised consumption site when she visited on the afternoon of Tuesday January 18. She visited again two days later, shortly after we arrived on site.
Sandberg said that after Dr. Deborah Borne, a Senior Physician Specialist with the Department of Public Health, discovered that Sandberg was interviewing Ronald Ahart from Urban Alchemy about the site, Borne interrupted the conversation and called over a public relations person with the city's Department of Housing and Homelessness Services.
According to Sandberg, the public relations official denied that there was a supervised consumption site at the linkage center.
'The PR people said, "No, we do not do that because it's illegal," reported Sandberg.
The Urban Alchemy employee who gave us a tour did not ask our names or if we were reporters and seemed accustomed to giving tours.
The city supervisor who represents the Tenderloin neighborhood, Matt Haney, toured the facility on Tuesday and tweeted a photo of the site saying 'They've already connected a number of people to needed services.'
The Urban Alchemy employee was about to show us a room where he said there were bunk beds and cages for pets when Kim Bowman, Assistant Deputy Director of San Francisco's Division of Emergency Services, abruptly ended our tour, explaining that they were 'limiting visits' because they couldn't spare staff, and that we could arrange a tour at a later date.
A recovering addict who lives in the Tenderloin and asked that we withhold her name told us her friend went into the linkage center to smoke crack and that when she asked an official if there was a drug consumption site inside she was told there was not.
The two of us witnessed a half-dozen people smoking fentanyl (including those pictured
