Two challengers to San Francisco Mayor London Breed's reelection bid said they would declare a state of emergency to address the city's fentanyl crisis and call in more National Guard troops to combat its out-of-control open-air drug dens if they won.
Mark Farrell , a venture capitalist who served as interim mayor of San Francisco for six months in 2018, said Thursday that he would also ask the state to dispatch military personnel for an indefinite period of time.
"I will partner w/ state/fed leaders to declare a fentanyl state of emergency, request more armed CA National Guard, & implement a bold recovery plan to save lives & close open-air drug markets," Farrell posted on X.
Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) has already deployed the National Guard and California Highway Patrol to help support local law enforcement as they try to rein in drug use and take down fentanyl rings.
The city has watched as brazen retail theft, public drug use, and massive homeless encampments have driven out businesses and residents who do not feel safe. Last year, San Francisco recorded at least 811 overdoses.
San Franciscoans have started to lean into a more tough-on-crime approach despite its liberal reputation. Farrell wants armed officers to patrol the city's notorious Tenderloin district and the area South of Market.
"I don’t believe that it’s progressive or compassionate to allow a record number of overdose deaths on our streets every single year,” Farrell said.
He has said he entered the mayoral race because "it is really painful to watch the city you love and you grew up in maligned across the globe."
“I have watched San Francisco crumble over the last five years since I left City Hall,” Farrell said. “People don’t feel safe. The condition of our streets has never been worse. And our local economy has collapsed. And we’ve become the butt of jokes across the country.”
Farrell and Daniel Laurie, an heir to the Levi Strauss clothing fortune, are among a handful of candidates who believe they can turn the situation around in San Francisco. Both say Breed has been asleep at the wheel and grossly ineffective as mayor.
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Laurie, on Wednesday, released his so-called "fentanyl state of emergency" plan. He said he could unlock resources to fight the overdose epidemic but did not give specifics.
During a March visit, the Washington Examiner witnessed men and women with needles stuck in their arms and toes trying to inject illegal drugs, with some experiencing the so-called "fentanyl bend," in which users inject the highly addictive cheap street drug that causes some to bend over in a zombie-like stupor for hours.
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