San Francisco could become first city in the US to require ALL pharmacies to carry Narcan

San Francisco could become the first city in the country to require every pharmacy within its boundaries to carry Narcan, as the drug crisis spirals in the liberal city.

San Francisco Supervisor Matt Dorsey will introduce a bill on Tuesday that, if approved, would require every pharmacy to always have in stock at least two nasal sprays containing the drug or face fines.

The city has struggled for years with rampant fentanyl use and fatal overdoses, and is on pace for its deadliest year yet.

There were 647 accidental drug overdose deaths in San Francisco in 2022, and over 70 percent of those deaths were attributable to fentanyl, according to the San Francisco Office of the Chief Medical Examiner.

In the first five months of 2023, preliminary reports show there were 346 overdose deaths in the city - an increase of more than 40 percent from the same period in 2022. More than 79 percent of those deaths were attributable to fentanyl, according to data from the medical examiner's office.

San Francisco Supervisor Matt Dorsey will introduce a bill on Tuesday that, if approved, would require every pharmacy to always have in stock at least two nasal sprays containing the drug or face fines

Dorsey, a recovering meth addict, said he wants universal access to naloxone because the medication saves lives when it reaches an overdosing person in time. 'This is life and death, and this is a public health crisis that San Francisco has not experienced since the days of the AIDS crisis,' Dorsey said 

Dorsey, a recovering meth addict, said he wants universal access to naloxone, what Narcan is generically known by, because the medication saves lives when it reaches an overdosing person in time.

'This is life and death, and this is a public health crisis that San Francisco has not experienced since the days of the AIDS crisis,' Dorsey said.

Making naloxone more widely available is seen as a key strategy in controlling the nationwide overdose crisis, which has been linked to more than 100,000 US deaths annually.

Narcan, the leading brand of naloxone nasal spray, is already available without a prescription in all 50 states, where leaders have issued standing orders for pharmacists to sell the drug to anyone who asks for it. But not all pharmacies carry it.

Dorsey said a recent 'secret shopper' survey conducted by the San Francisco Department of Public Health found that approximately 20 percent of San Francisco pharmacies did not have naloxone in stock, despite having legal authorization to provide it on request.

San Francisco's downtown area has suffered a huge loss of businesses and tourism as the city deals with a crime and fentanyl pandemic 

Businesses have had issues with the city's waste department and homeless encampments near their doors

Crime is down 5.6 percent in San Francisco, despite the growing drug problem 

In San Francisco, police officers, firefighters, and paramedics are trained to identify an opioid overdose and carry Narcan. Many public libraries, public housing facilities and clinics are also stocked with the drug.

'We want all San Franciscans, no matter where they live, no matter where they work, to be able to go to their pharmacy and get it and so this measure, removes one more barrier to everyone having access to this lifesaving medication,' said Dr. Jeffrey Hom, director of population behavioral health at the San Francisco Department of Public Health.

Dorsey's ordinance would allow a three-day grace period for pharmacies to reorder two boxes, and fine violators between $250 and $1,000 per violation.

In March, the Federal Drug Administration (FDA) approved Narcan nasal spray to be sold over-the-counter. The medication will become available that way by late summer, according to Gaithersburg, Maryland-based Emergent BioSolutions, the maker of Narcan. Other brands of naloxone and injectable forms will not yet be available but could be soon.

Walgreens said naloxone is already carried in all of its San Francisco pharmacies.

'Walgreens believes that saving lives from deadly opioid overdoses is a shared responsibility amongst all public health stakeholders,' said Perry Han, Regional Vice President of Walgreens.

In May, Walgreens agreed to pay nearly $230million to San Francisco to settle claims that the pharmacy giant helped fuel the opioid epidemic plaguing the city.

San Francisco has suffered heavily since the pandemic, as drug addicts have taken over the city, causing businesses to shutter their doors. 

The owner of a beloved San Francisco restaurant that opened more than 60 years ago has decided to close shop for good, blaming the city for not supporting business owners amid a homelessness crisis and the aftermath of the pandemic.

HRD Coffee Shop opened its doors in 1953 as a modest establishment serving workers in the city's downtown area - and eventually became a staple caterer to the city's tech giants like software company Salesforce.

A map reveals the major businesses which have left, or plan to leave, San Francisco in recent months. Westfield, the most recent to announced its departure, will give up its huge mall - and several occupants have already said they intend to follow

HRD Coffee Shop, which opened its doors in 1953, will now be closing due to the homelessness and drug crisis 

The restaurant even appeared on The Food Network several times, with Guy Fieri trying one its famous kimchi burritos.

But Sydney Saidyan, its current owner, told The San Francisco Standard the situation in the city became untenable, and he and his advisers decided to shut down the place back in May.

'I would love to remain in San Francisco as a business. But the question is, would any sane person?' Saidyan told the outlet.

San Francisco's downtown area has suffered a huge loss of businesses and tourism as the city deals with a crime and fentanyl pandemic.

The city's once bustling Union Square and downtown area is a shadow of its former self: Rows of empty stores, sparse crowds even on peak weekend shopping days and nearby hotels – including a huge Hilton - unable to cover their mortgage payments.

Westfield Mall recently announced it has been forced to stop making mortgage payments due to the loss of business. In 2016, the property was appraised at $1.2 billion, but a stark decline saw the mall hit with years of looting, soft policing and open-air drug taking.

Crime itself is actually down nearly six percent in the city, compared to the same time last year. 

Homicide and robbery are both up 8.7 and 11.8 percent, respectively.