SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) — The city of San Francisco is laying out its official plan to combat the drug epidemic on the streets with a sobering center.
The city hopes the days of public drug use in San Francisco are approaching an end.
“Make it clear to anybody who would come to San Francisco to use drugs in public that you now have three options: get sober, get arrested, or get out,” said San Francisco Supervisor Matt Dorsey.
The city is set to open the first “Rapid Enforcement, Support, Evaluation, and Triage Center” or RESET center, run by the Sheriff’s Department with Public Health personnel inside. It will be located on 444 6th Street, across from the Hall of Justice and the county jail.
“If somebody is intoxicated or on drugs on the street, and an officer or deputy observes that, this is going to be an option for law enforcement to take that person into custody and then bring them to the research center where they’re going to be given the opportunity to first sober up and then be released into, what we call a warm hand-off into clinical care, into service providers,” said San Francisco County Sheriff Paul Miyamoto.
Right now, San Francisco deploys street teams to offer city services to drug users. However, all of that is voluntary, so ABC7 asked if they will now be forced into treatment.
“Not forced into treatment, but the initial contact will be taking them into custody and bringing them to the space,” Sheriff Miyamoto said.
City data from January to November of 2025 shows 588 people died from what the city describes as “accidental drug overdoses.” Many happened in the SOMA district where the RESET center will be.
“The first thing is, you are not leaving. This is an involuntary custodial intervention,” said Supervisor Dorsey, who represents the area.
Steve Adami is Executive Director of “Way Out,” a Salvation Army homeless initiative focused on recovery from addiction. He sees the need up close.
“I think the critical piece to make this center successful is two-fold; first you have to be able to get people in there quickly and secondly after they’ve detoxed you most connect them to treatments immediately,” said Adami.
Capacity is still a big challenge for the RESET center. The city is planning to have room for 24 people, something that advocates say won’t be enough but it’s a good start.
The target date to open the center is April 1.
The city of San Francisco awarded the sobering center contract to Connections Health Solutions. According to the mayor’s office, the contract still “needs to pass” the Board of Supervisors.
