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Addiction Recovery Bulletin
SICK WORLD –
Feb. 26, 2025 – When we visited Monday night, drug dealers hid in the bushes. A park ranger shuffled groups of users and illegal vendors around the block. People lay slumped in nearby doorways. All in, there were about 25 people using and selling drugs and trading in other wares. Drew Ersland, who is homeless and addicted to drugs, sold candy to other users between the rangers’ sweeps.
“I got candy. Zoom zooms. Wam wams,” he told a passerby, using prison slang to describe his supply of Reese’s cupcakes, Mike and Ike, and Sour Patch Kids. “You ain’t never seen Reese’s cupcakes before.”
Jefferson Square is one of the latest spots for the ever-moving drug market. Ramped-up enforcement since spring 2023 has gradually pushed illicit activity from the Tenderloin, Civic Center, and Sixth Street toward the Mission and other neighborhoods. Locals say a night market has been growing in the park over the past few months. Ersland said the enforcement has driven up the price of drugs and worn down the spirits of homeless people and those with severe addictions. But lasting solutions evade the city.
“They pushed us to one hill,” Ersland said. “Tomorrow it will be another one.”
CONTINUE@SFStandard
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