Moms Urge Newsom to Save California Kids and Shut Down Open Drug Markets
New Ads Feature 2 Full-Size Billboards on I-80, West of the Harbor Blvd Exit, and a Mobile Billboard Driving Around State Capitol
May 12, 2022, San Francisco. FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, MAY 12, 2022, SACRAMENTO, CA – Mothers Against Drug Deaths rallied today at the Capitol building to urge Governor Gavin Newsom to act and solve the state’s out-of-control fentanyl epidemic. The mothers unveiled a new billboard advertising campaign at the press conference designed to pressure the Governor to act.
With images depicting a “tent city drug scene” replacing a National Forest campground, the billboard ads read, “Welcome to Camp Fentanyl…Open to Kids Everywhere,” and “Governor Newsom, shut down open-air drug markets now.”
The billboards are located on Interstate 80, just West of Harbor Blvd Exit. One ad faces eastbound, and the other faces westbound. A third ad featuring a mobile billboard was also on-site at the press conference and will circle the Capitol building and other locations for an undisclosed timeframe.
“Over 15 Californians die every day from a drug overdose-some are young, curious teens experimenting for their first time. Never has the risk been so great for first-time drug users, and the first time can mean death. Does your child understand that” asked Jacqui Berlinn, co-founder of MADD.
The effort to enlist Newsom follows months of ignored pleas for help from the mothers to Mayor London Breed of San Francisco. The cries for her to do something culminated with a blistering advertising campaign that condemned San Francisco’s out-of-control fentanyl epidemic and Mayor Breed’s lack of progress in addressing it.
"My son Trevor will always be 18 years old because of overdosing from illicit drugs," stated grieving mom Michelle Leopold of Marin County CA. "As a San Francisco Small Business owner, I’m shocked at seeing open air drug markets allowed to flourish in The City without ANY consequences. We MUST do more, Governor Newsom!" Leopold added that Trevor started at Gavin Newsom's alma mater, Redwood High School.
Last month, MADD ran a billboard advertisement in Union Square for a month and was received well by the public despite its controversy. (See below)
At the press conference and in a letter sent to the Governor, the moms, some of whom have lost their children to fentanyl, called on the Governor to “save California’s kids” by issuing a State of Emergency and closing all open-air drug markets throughout the state.
The letter reads,
As mothers whose children have died from a drug overdose, are struggling with addiction and homelessness, or are at risk in California, we urge you to call a state of emergency and close California’s illegal open drug markets immediately.
California’s open drug markets, such as the Tenderloin in San Francisco, operate illegally in plain sight in front of public officials, residents and their children and tourists, in contravention of California law. Any time of the day, any day of the week, people are dealing and using illicit drugs such as illicit fentanyl, meth, and other lethal substances out in the open. There is zero barrier preventing anyone, including children, from entering these markets and succumbing to the drugs, as we can all see from the recent deaths of two young teens (16-year-old Victoria Moran-Hidalgo and the 15-year-old Pacific Grove boy) lured in to buy or use drugs in your illegal, open drug markets.
“This drug overdose epidemic should lay at the Governor's feet, said Gina McDonald.” “Our open drug sales and use overrun cities and towns. Our mayors and county officials are overwhelmed. Drug encampments and open drug markets line city streets. This is not hyperbole. Look at San Francisco. Look at the skid row. Look at Fresno. Look at Santa Cruz. Look under almost any freeway overpass and tell me why this is allowed to continue. This involves ALL of California and calls for our Governor to do more than a few encampments, photo clean up photo ops, and passing the buck to county offices. These are your people Mr. Newsom. Do something.”
But MADD isn’t the only person or organization disappointed in the Governor’s lack of action. The letter continues:
For parents like us who have a front-row seat watching this tragedy unfold in slow motion, it’s frankly unbelievable that the US Department of Justice Drug Enforcement Agency’s the office issued a warning about California’s permissive attitude about open, illicit drug dealing almost two years ago. As Wade R. Shannon, Special Agent in Charge of the DEA wrote on September 30, 2020: “The epicenter of this fentanyl disaster is in the Tenderloin neighborhood in San Francisco…. The Tenderloin neighborhood is also home to an open-air drug market spreading death throughout the Bay Area. The drug dealing that is openly oppressing the Tenderloin is quietly undermining neighborhoods across San Francisco, Oakland, San Mateo, Sonoma, Marin County, etc.”
“The epidemic and the open-air drug markets aren’t only killing California’s economy; they’re killing our children,” said Berlinn.
CONTACT: Gina McDonald
Gina@MothersAgainstDrugDeaths.org
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PAST EVENT
While Mayor Breed Pitches Tourism, Moms of Children Affected by Deadly Fentanyl Pitch Reality
Mothers of Addicts Launch Ad Campaign, Warning Tourists of Deadly Drugs and Open-Air Drug Market
April 4, 2022, San Francisco. Mothers of children killed by fentanyl and mothers of homeless addicts living on the streets of San Francisco launched a blistering advertisement campaign today intended to warn tourists against visiting the city, citing deadly open-air drug markets.
By juxtaposing images of iconic San Francisco tourism landmarks such as the Golden Gate Bridge and Alcatraz alongside statements that highlight the city’s out-of-control fentanyl pandemic, the ads portray a striking “myth vs. reality.” While Mayor London Breed has been pitching the city as a tourist destination to Europe, Mothers Against Drug Deaths, the organization responsible for the ads, encourages people to stay away.
“Parents worldwide should know that San Francisco is unsafe for children and families,” said Jacqui Berlinn, co-founder of Mothers Against Drug Deaths. “My son is at risk of dying because the San Francisco city government, with the support of Governor Gavin Newsom, refuses to arrest him for breaking the law and mandate treatment.”
The ad campaign arrives on the heels of Breed’s attempts to rebrand San Francisco as a tourist destination. In truth, according to the US Census, from July 2020 – July 2021, nearly 55,000 people left San Francisco, second only to Manhattan in a county population decrease. Many of them left citing the city’s open-air drug markets.
Berlinn organized the first protest against open-air drug dealing in San Francisco in 2021. She and other mothers, including Gina McDonald, and Michelle Leopold raised money to purchase a large billboard in Union Square, one of the city’s main tourist destinations and shopping districts, and on Facebook, Twitter, and other social media platforms.
“I feel Mayor Breed is putting their (tourists) children’s lives in danger just as she has done with ours.” Gina McDonald, whose daughter has frequented SF to buy and use drugs. “While many kids in this city have to be walked to school by SF hired patrol, this Mayor has the audacity to invite other families to visit. Breed’s status quo has failed both those suffering on the street and those who witness their demise.”
“Mayor Breed’s status quo has failed both those suffering on the street and those who witness their demise feel she is putting their (tourists) children’s lives in danger just as she has done with ours,” said McDonald, whose daughter has frequented San Francisco to buy and use drugs. “While many kids in this city must be walked to school by San Francisco hired patrol, this Mayor has the audacity to invite others.”
Former San Francisco homeless addict and recovery advocate Tom Wolf said he supported the mothers and what they are doing. “San Francisco refuses to do what it must and shut down the open-air drug dealing and drug market. The city, especially the Tenderloin and downtown neighborhoods, have become unsafe for families and children.
“The open drug market and normalization of public drug use drew my daughter to San Francisco. Not the Golden Gate Bridge or The Embarcadero, and I never want another parent to feel this anguish. The mayor should really consider solving her own humanitarian crises at home before asking others to join in.”
“My son died from Fentanyl poisoning, and when I learned how he died, I vowed to do all I could to keep other parents from suffering the same endless pain,” said Leopold. “Yet San Francisco's fentanyl poisoning numbers are exploding, as are the overdoses of those addicted to fentanyl. All that's happened is a fence installed to shield drug dealing and drug use from being seen. I still have seen no positive results from the (declared State of Emergency and the) Linkage center, including no results that we anticipated for those asking for help with mental illness or addiction treatment... and inside the linkage, the center remains a safe place-for drug dealing.”
“The reality is that San Francisco is becoming as famous for cheap fentanyl and open-air drug markets as for the Golden Gate Bridge and beautiful redwood forests, '' said Jacqui Berlinn. “The epidemic and the open-air drug markets aren’t only killing San Francisco’s economy; they’re killing our children.”
Ellen Grantz, a mother of young teens in San Francisco who joined MADD to support their cause, said, “I worry every day about the complacency toward lethal drugs in our city; it’s not right for the people suffering from addiction, and it’s terrifying for kids to witness it as an accepted way of life.
"We often hear there are not enough resources, but the truth is there are hundreds of treatment beds vacant while the city doubles down on distributing Narcan and flyers on how to use fentanyl. It must be demoralizing for frontline staff to work tirelessly to help people when the system is clearly failing. We are asking the city to shift from addiction maintenance, which is killing people, to addiction recovery.”
Leaders of the grassroots organization want Governor Newsom to lead the effort for local governments to break up the open-air drug scenes, for drug dealers to stop selling dangerous drugs, and for (people who suffer from addiction) who break the law, to restore mandatory drug treatment as an alternative to jail.
PAST EVENT
We Are Speaking Out.
Past Event: We Protested in front of the SF Linkage Center on Saturday, February 5, 2022
On Saturday, February 5th at 8 a.m., mothers of children affected directly by the drug deaths crisis will protest in front of the recently opened Linkage Center at United Nations Plaza, which is inappropriately combining rehab services with open air drug use and dealing. They are members of the group Mothers Against Drug Deaths and are demanding the closure of the portion of the Linkage Center where supervised drug use is taking place.
Defenders of supervised consumption sites say the Linkage Center’s strategy is based on policies from Europe. But no country that has successfully solved the drug crisis combines areas designated for rehabilitation services with areas for drug consumption. And safe consumption sites have only been shown to work in countries which also employ a suite of police and health care interventions for their chronic drug use population. The California Peace Coalition, which Mothers Against Drug Deaths belongs to, put out a statement on a proposal for supervised consumption sites in October 2021.
“It's like having an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting in an open bar,” said Michelle Leopold, who lost her 18-year-old son Trevor to fentanyl poisoning in 2019 after he struggled with addiction for several years.
“Would you hand a suicidal person a loaded gun?” asked Gina McDonald, whose 23-year-old daughter is fighting heroin addiction. Gina herself has been in recovery from addiction for many years.
The protesters have a simple message: allowing open air drug use at the Linkage Center is totally inappropriate and must stop immediately. Open drug use at any site that is supposed to “link” people to treatment only causes further harm and continued use. Mayor Breed needs a better strategy if she is serious about solving the humanitarian crisis on our streets. All press are invited to attend the protest.
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Mothers Against Drug Deaths is a group of mothers who have lost children to fentanyl or whose children are currently struggling with addiction. MADD believes that all open air drug scenes in San Francisco and across California should be shut down using a combination of social services and law enforcement.