Thread by @ShellenbergerMD

A few weeks ago I was honored to testify to the San Francisco Grand Jury about why SF city government is neglecting its moral & legal responsibility to prevent hundreds of people from dying preventable drug deaths.

The members had read "San Fransicko" with great interest.

https://twitter.com/myrnamelgar/status/1458917101033246720

I am saddened and angry, but not surprised, given my research, that a member of the SF Board of Supervisors is now attacking me for writing a book documenting how she and others on the Board could immediately save hundreds of lives, and why they aren't.

I love San Francisco

I moved to the SF in 1993 to work on radical Left causes, moved to Berkeley in '98, & dated my wife, who lived in the Haight, & lived there part-time, from 2009-11

I wrote "San Fransicko" bc I'm heart-broken over what SF Govt is doing to the City.

In "San Fransicko" I propose that SF do what Amsterdam, Lisbon, and every other civilized city in the world has done, which is to shut down deadly open drug scenes, shelter the homeless, and treat addiction and untreated mental illness.

bmcpublichealth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.11…

Before the book was published I was invited by Denver policymakers to offer testimony to what the city could do about its open drug scenes.

I have since been invited by three other cities to testify to lawmakers

No member of the SF Board of Super. has invited my testimony

Perhaps that's because their egos are bruised by the title of the book, but that's absurd. Their obligation is to the City and its residents, not their egos.

Moreover, I had reached out to every member of the Board in 2020.

And I published the results of my research in March.

Two members of the SF Board of Supervisors, @MattHaneySF & @Ahsha_Safai came to the May protest against fentanyl dealing in the Tenderloin that I organized with @JacquiBerlinn

I briefed both of them, at length, about how to shut down the drug scenes

sfweekly.com/news/san-franc…

SF Supervisor @myrnamelgar is attacking me for having run as a protest candidate for Governor in 2018, as though that is somehow a knock against me. I ran for the same reason I wrote San Fransicko: because I am sickened by what she & other politicians are allowing.

Anybody who reads "San Fransicko" will see that it is a deeply compassionate and liberal, yes liberal book. I advocate universal psychiatric care, universal addiction care, and the restoration of peace, safety, and order in the TL and other poor neighborhoods of color.

"San Fransicko is based on the best-available peer-reviewed scientific evidence & a description of my fieldwork in Amsterdam. It explains how to treat people in need & down the drug death markets. If you don't want to buy it, here's all the evidence:

michaelshellenberger.substack.com

Over the last 5 years I testified 6x to the US Congress, & gave testimony to policymakers in Japan, Britain, Korea, Netherlands, & Philippines. I am currently in Sweden meeting with lawmakers

I am more than willing to offer my testimony to the SF BoS, as I did to the Grand Jury

Either way, it will be my honor to, on Nov. 30, commit civil disobedience in SF w/ @JacquiBerlinn & other parents of children at risk of dying bc @myrnamelgar & the SF BoS refuse to fulfill their moral & ethical obligation to prevent thousands of more people dying on their watch.

In the end, this is on us. Politicians like @myrnamelgar are failing to act because we are failing to hold them accountable. They are letting the chaos spiral out of control. Every day that passes we are losing our humanity. It's time for us to stand up & demand change.

/end

P.S. We need people to join us for our 11 am protest on Tuesday November 30.

It will be safe & peaceful & we are coordinating with the SFPD. Most people won't commit civil disobedience.

If you would like to participate, please DM me. They are open!

We need you.

❤️🙏