San Francisco exports its lifestyle all over the world. But many of us are more focused on our social media feeds, organic foods, self-driving cars, and planning our next day trip to the Redwoods than we are on the fact that some of our fellow human beings are deteriorating on our streets and the city we once loved is plagued by illness and dysfunction. We created That’s Fentalife! to call attention to our own collective inattention and inspire action.

Power structures do not change on their own. The people have to demand change. That’s Fentalife!’s goal is to educate San Francisco residents about the scale of this humanitarian crisis and how it impacts our city’s ability to thrive, and give them the tools to hold San Francisco City Hall accountable to fixing it.

San Francisco is a city famous for its innovative and compassionate spirit. We know that City Hall is capable of delivering a robust, innovative solution to this crisis. But we also know that unless we demand it, they won’t.

Every spring, City Hall aligns on a budget plan for the coming year. From new bike lanes to new housing, if it’s not in the budget, it’s probably not happening. That’s why this is the crucial moment to ensure City Hall funds solutions to SF’s drug crisis in this year’s budget.

What’s happening on our streets is so disturbing that any messaging about it has to be bold in order to break through. We are so numb to the tragedy that we see on a daily basis that we need a kick in the pants. That’s Fentalife! functions as an ironic play on the saying, “that’s life,” and it is meant to call attention to City Hall’s inaction and failure on this issue. We want to make people notice that we’re slowly beginning to accept this level of dysfunction as our new normal. Our hope is that this campaign will make people realize they don’t have to accept it—they can take action. That’s Fentalife! is acting as a frame for what is actually happening on our streets right now. And if you find yourself more upset by an ad than the person suffering beneath it, well, that says something, doesn’t it?

We’re focusing on reducing the supply and demand of drugs through law enforcement against drug dealing coupled with increased and streamlined access to recovery services for those suffering from addiction.

Law Enforcement: The District Attorney and the Police Department must work together to arrest and prosecute drug dealers in San Francisco, as well as coordinate with state and federal law enforcement to address cartels bringing drugs to the city. The city can ensure this happens by including the following in the next budget:

• Funding to eventually meet the recommended number of 2,182 sworn officers

• Enough academy classes to meet that goal with new officers

• Enough police staffing aides to allow officers to answer high-priority calls

• Enough additional officers this coming year to make Operation Disruption permanent in high drug trafficking areas including Tenderloin, Southern, and Mission Stations

• Investment in personnel training and narcotics equipment to effectively close the open air drug markets

• Funding for a nationwide recruitment search with a focus on lateral hires to expedite hiring

City-Sponsored Recovery Programs: Recovery has to be the goal. City departments need to work cross-functionally to make this happen in order to give users the chance to live healthy lives and shrink demand for drugs on the street. This means funding true treatment on demand in the next budget, which includes:

• Creating 24/7 pickup vans for people seeking to enter drug treatment programs, and 24/7 intake centers where they can go for initial screening

• Stabilization centers with a minimum stay time and on-site medical staff, where people can stay temporarily before entering longer-term drug treatment programs

• Improving access to recovery beds to meet the city’s obligation to provide drug treatment on demand:

  • Increase the number of residential drug treatment beds

  • Increase the number of step-down beds, a vital component of the services spectrum where people re-learn skills for independent living before entering permanent housing

• Offer recovery options that are completely drug-free

• Offer more secure mental health beds so people who need care aren’t forced to stay in jail or return to the streets

• Make employment as a member of program staff more sustainable and rewarding:

  • Increase staffing capacity through reassignments to match program expansion

  • Additional funding to address the staffing shortage of licensed staff/behavioral nurses

  • Address the pay gap between nonprofit and city licensed behavioral staff

It might seem like pushing a button on your phone is too easy, but that’s by design. Our coalition of health and policy experts, former City Hall-ers, recovery advocates, concerned mothers, and business owners has spent countless hours determining exactly what we need to see in the budget to end this crisis.

Now, all we need is you. If City Hall gets thousands of the same letter from an organized movement of residents demanding action, they’ll be forced to pay attention.

Visit findtreatment-sf.org or call SAMHSA’s national hotline at 1-800-662-4357.

Our coalition was formed in 2022 to mobilize a robust community response to San Francisco’s opioid epidemic. Our goal is to get San Francisco City Hall to end open-air drug markets in 2023.

This public awareness campaign was created in collaboration with Partners in Crime, a creative syndicate of independent writers, artists, strategists, technologists, designers, producers and brand builders. The team that worked on That’s Fentalife! has a collective 50+ years of living and working in San Francisco. They provided all ideas pro bono as a way to give back to the city they love, and put an end to this crisis.

Advertising creative was developed pro-bono by Partners in Crime. Building space was donated by the buildings’ owners, and incurred costs were covered by TogetherSF Action. This activity qualifies TogetherSF Action as an expenditure lobbyist under San Francisco Campaign and Governmental Conduct Code § 2.100 et seq., and is reported to the SF Ethics Commission.

TogetherSF Action hosts regular events at our Mission District events space. We’d love to see you there.