450 People Arrested in San Francisco for ‘Public Intoxication’ as City Cracks Down on Open-Air Drug Market

San Francisco is touting "significant" progress in the ongoing effort to crack down on open-air drug markets, citing hundreds of arrests and the seizure of more than 100 kilos of narcotics and fentanyl, according to a report. 

Since the operation was launched on May 30, the law enforcement authorities have arrested more than 450 alleged drug users under public intoxication laws, as well as 300 suspected drug dealers and 123 wanted fugitives, KRON reported, citing numbers released by the Mayor London Breed. 

The campaign, being conducted by local, state and federal officials in the Tenderloin and South of Market neighborhoods, also seized 103 kilos of narcotics, including 56 kilos of the highly lethal opioid fentanyl. 

Since the beginning of the year, authorities have seized more than 135 kilos of narcotics - surpassing all of last year's drug seizures combined citywide, the report said. 

The District Attorney's office has also filed 566 felony narcotics cases this year, shattering the record of 476 cases filed in 2018. 

"Shutting down open-air drug markets is critical to the safety of our neighborhoods and the overall health of our City,” the mayor said in a news release.

The people busted for violating the public intoxication laws were offered services for treatment, but most turned it down, the report said.

Breed said the city will continue "to help people in crisis, but we must hold people accountable who are hurting our communities.”   

The city has been plagued by open-air drug use and, like many U.S. communities, the scourge of fentanyl.

In San Francisco, 473 people died from drug overdoses between January and July, the station reported, citing the chief medical examiner.  

"We refuse to sit on the sidelines as the fentanyl crisis intensifies,” San Francisco Police Department Chief Bill Scott said. 

“The introduction of this poison into our drug supply has changed the game and we’re responding. Anyone who seeks to profit from selling drugs in our city will be held accountable," he said. "The people who live, work and visit San Francisco deserve to be safe as they enjoy this beautiful city.”