CNN’s Sidner: Drug Users Come to San Francisco Because of Lax Laws, COVID Shutdowns a Factor in Homeless Problem

On Friday’s broadcast of CNN’s “The Lead,” CNN Correspondent Sara Sidner previewed her special on the issues in San Francisco and stated that COVID shutdowns were a factor in the city’s homeless problem getting worse and stated that drug users in the city that she spoke to came to the city because drugs in the city “are cheap, they’re easy to get, and you can use them on the street without worrying about being prosecuted.”

Host Jake Tapper asked, “What about the homelessness problem in San Francisco? It’s perceived to be worse than it’s been in years. Is it actually worse?”

Sidner responded, “Yeah. I think we can easily say that the combination of what happened with COVID, the shutdowns, some of the residents leaving, people being locked up in their homes, and then you saw this explosion of tents that lined the sidewalks in many places, some of that right outside of City Hall. The mayor gave us a very candid interview about what’s going on in her city. She used the word BS once during a press conference because she said this has to stop, we have to fix this, we have to deal with these incidents. But we also talked to people who were homeless themselves. We talked to people who use drugs themselves and talked about why they came to San Francisco. And not surprisingly, many of them were not from the area, but they told us, look, the drugs are cheap, they’re easy to get, and you can use them on the street without worrying about being prosecuted.”

Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett