>> building a better bay area. moving forward. finding solutions. this is abc7 news. ♪ i'm kristen sze. you are watching "getting answers" on abc7. every day, we talk with experts about issues important to the bay area and we get answers for you in real time.

today, which really get answers to your questions, as san francisco confronts challenges on multiple fronts, we asked you our viewers on social media what questions you have for mayor london breed. she will be here in just a few minutes to answer them and share her vision and action plan for san francisco. also there is a new drug five times more powerful than fentanyl hitting the streets of san francisco. our media partner, the san francisco standard, will tell us what it is, how to avoid it, and what is being done about the latest threat. but first the standard has noticed the san francisco helped apartment is changing its tune as drug overdoses surge. joining us live to talk about this article is the san francisco standard's david sjostedt. thanks for your time. >> thanks for having me. kristen: in your article it overdoses are surging, do you have any new numbers? >> this new message from the health department came out

friday as a report from the chief medical examiner's office that shows the city is currently on track to hit a record number of overdose deaths this year. currently on track to have over 800 people die just from drug overdoses this year. kristen: so at the same time we have these numbers going up, we have what you observed to be a change in the messaging, at least in the tone. what makes you say that? maybe you can walk us through what this suggests and what the previous messaging has been. >> so, in 2020, the department of public health partnered with the goat project, which is a home reduction group that put out these messages, hoping to encourage people to use drugs with friends and do so safely, but some people felt that they missed the mark with that messaging and it was actually encouraging people to use drugs and kind of glamorizing the lifestyle. then on friday, they put out a campaign using a poster from the

drug enforcement agency showing just the lethality of fentanyl, and really stressing that, if you are addicted to drugs, you should reduce your use or stop using entirely by seeking treatment, which struck some observers -- actually most observers to have a change of tone from what they were doing a few years ago. kristen: we are showing some of the scenes from the city that have prompted some residents to be very concerned, out crying, that this is a pressing problem in crisis. i know what you are talking about, the billboard from a few years ago. it kind of glamorizing is -- glamorized it, saying do drugs with friends, narcan, have that ready. so this is different if it is emphasizing recovery more. there is also another that

uses a penny to show how dangerous fentanyl is. can you talk about that one? >> not want to still a little controversial because health advocates and drug -- that one is still a little controversial because health advocates have tried to distance themselves from that approach to dealing with drug use. some people were taken off guard that the department of public health would use something from the drug enforcement agency, the dea, and kind of push that narrative ambush some fear -- and push some fear of fentanyl because they feel that it might increase the stigma, and they felt like the idea that just a few grains of fentanyl is perhaps a little misleading because that amount is not lethal for everybody. people have different tolerances and they just felt like it was an odd choice for the health department to use that image. there is obvious people who supported it. kristen: are those same critics worried that this type of

messaging might push users underground, so to speak? >> yeah, there are concerns that the city's new approach of arresting people who use drugs and detaining them temporarily good kind of force people into situations where they are not as open about their drug use and therefore if somebody overdoses, they might not call the police, they might not have anyone around because they went off and did it by themselves to not get caught. kristen: let me get what the public reaction you think has been pure but our people generally in favor of this new messaging this shift -- has been. are people generally in favor of this new messaging, this shift? >> the recovery is possible messaging, most people are supportive of that message. because if people get help -- then there's the dea that is a bit more controversial with the penny.

they are seeing a rare moment where people are saying this was a good move on twitter. usually they are getting a lot of flak. what you see assembly member matt coming out and supporting it. i think they are getting some support for it. kristen: did you talk to the department, about whether this is in fact a deliberate effort, and if they said anything to you about that? >> strangely enough, they didn't respond, when i asked about this messaging. i can't say why that is. kristen: all right. fascinating, and of course the big question is, is the change and messaging accompanied by change in policy? it is lucky that we mayor london breed in the studio in a few minutes to address that. hopefully you will stick around until the end of the show because we do want to ask you about another aspect that you reported on today, and that is the revelation that there are drugs out there perhaps up to five times more powerful than fentanyl already here and what's

being done about it. we will see you in about 20 minutes. thank you. yours, don't go away, when we come back, san francisco mayor london bridge will join us in

kristen: san francisco's facing many issues, social, criminal, and financial. in the past week, we have seen a vigilante arrest after patrolling fisherman's wharf hoping to prevent break-ins. some say downtown is not going back to the way it was. so what is mayor london breed doing to ensure a rosier future for the city? joining us live in the studio to discuss her vision for what ails

and what will fix san francisco is mayor london breed. thank you for joining us. we want to start with what our media partner the san francisco standard reported, a seeming shift in the messaging surrounding drugs and overdoses from doing it in such a way that doesn't lead to an here's narcan, to one saying, you can stop and recover, talk about that and whether that is accompanied by a change in policy. >> it's not a change in policy, it is something that we've always done. it's just that now we are trying to make sure the public is more aware because often times people who are trying to get hel is a family member that might be trying to get them help and they are like, who do i call, what do i do? it's not as of the treatment on the man and the resources are not down in the tenderloin and neighborhoods where we know they are experiencing the most challenges. people know that there's a

clinic that offers care and we have a number of 24 hour facilities. but there's a disconnect between sometimes the public and people, when it comes to treatment, and we need to make sure our treatment services are not just a 9-to-5, but people where they are. so it's really about trying to heighten that messaging in a way that makes it clear that this service is available as well as the support that we try to provide to those who are struggling with addiction. kristen: even if it's not a total shift in policy, is that not a shift in focus? people might point out the linkage center and the tenderloin, safe injection and safe consumption was the primary focus. now is up two months ago, you are arresting people for doing drugs in public. some will say that is pretty drastic. >> that is drastic, but let's be

clear, treatment options and providing treatment has always been at the table whether it is our abstinence-based programming, or alternatives and other things, but we are just trying to bring attention to it. but as it relates to what we are doing around arresting those who are using drugs in the linkage center and other things we have done, what we are seeing is a level of understanding around what is happening to people who are struggling with addiction. for example, we are seeing overwhelmingly that the people that we are arresting are not from san francisco. we are seeing sadly overwhelmingly that some of these people have outstanding warrants. and other challenges. also in many cases, so people are refusing to take services that we are offering to get them into treatment. and i think it is important that we understand why and understand how we can do things better because ultimately it is not just about arresting people. we want to get them into treatment. we want that to be a viable option that is easy to get to. kristen: we have a lot of

questions -- we actually posed this question to our viewers, what would you ask of mayor breed? we did pick if you -- a few. these are thoughtful, represented of questions of the biggest challenges facing the city. here's one from old-fashioned sf, as a home owner of a condo downtown, will i not have tents with drug users in front of my doorway? how would you answer that? >> i would answer that to say that what we've done in san francisco, there are places where the dmv was located, underneath certain parts of the freeway, we had large encampments, and i noticed in some of the pictures you showed in your last segment, many of those encampments have been cleared. last year, san francisco saw a reduction o over 15% in unsheltered homelessness. i'm not saying the problem has completely gone away but we have made some gains and dealt with some of the real challenges with large amounts of tents in those

concentrated areas. my goal is to make sure that we have housing and support and services, and i think that people equate homelessness with mental illness and substance use disorder. his problems are very complicated -- these problems are very complicated and challenging and we have to continue to work aggressively on them to deal with these issues. as far as what we are seeing in the downtown area, we are not seeing large numbers of tent encampments and others. we know the areas that are most problematic and we are seeing 2-4 tents and continuing to go to those locations to try to clear those encampments. kristen: thank you so much. marie wants to know, will it be safe to work in san francisco again? i would love to work there if i did not have to risk my life during my daily commute. i'm not if she's talking about the -- not sure if she's talking about the transit or the walk to the office. it affects office

tourists, and businesses. >> have an increase in police officers where we have been able to use overtime to provide additional resources in the downtown area. we have ambassadors and other eyes and ears on the street. what we what's been happening with tourists as well as those returning to the office, they feel a lot safer, they feel the downtown area is a lot cleaner. in the recent story the chronicle did showed so many of these tourists, over 92% of the tourists they talked to said i had a great experience, san francisco isn't what i thought it was, i will come back to san francisco. and we are starting to see that more and more. it's not to say that we don't have problems in the tenderloin and market areas of our city and some of the other challenges. but when you look at what we've been able to do to make investments, see change, we need to make sure people don't just look at what is in the news and what is on the media, but they use their own personal experience to make a decision

about how they feel about san francisco. and that we as a city start to get the word out more about the changes and the investments we make. and people who are actually showing up to work on a regular basis, people like you, telling the stories about your own personal experience coming to work, how was public transportation, what's happening, does the city feel better? because i think people are turning to feel that way about certain neighborhoods. kristen: anecdotally, driving on the embarcadero looks better the last few months. so, progress. in the past week, we reported to our viewers about two safe was in the city -- installing these controversial exit gates. where you kind of have to scan your receipt to deter is that a statement to you that businesses have to feel like they have to take that action? what would you tell the businesses that are concerned about either coming in or staying here? >> let's talk about the businesses that are really having those kinds of problems more than anyone else.

before i was even an elected official, the safeway in my neighborhood had these problems, and then some. this is not a new issue. i think places like safeway and walgreens in particular, things have definitely gotten increasingly worse with more and more people stealing from these particular establishments. and i support the need to do what they need to do in order to make sure that the stores are safe and their customer experience is a lot better than it has been. so it's unfortunate that we are in this place. but places like chicago, you can't even go into any of their grocery stores and get access to their liquor. have a separate entity where you have to ask for what you want and you have to purchase it. so they have separate liquor stores and you can't walk through the aisles and just put stuff in your body. there are other cities that have extreme measures they are taking. here in san francisco, we have

been able to enjoy the freedom to shop but now sadly because of a few bad actors, we have to make some adjustments. kristen: i want to move on and talk about autonomous vehicles. i think your so maybe this weekend there was that car in the hate that got confused, stuck in the middle, cars had to go around it. that's just the latest incident i'd been avoiding -- latest incident involving autonomous vehicles on the city. you've been on the record opposed to autonomous trucks. what do you think about it? >> first of all, i'm excited about autonomous vehicles in general. especially cars and what they can do. this is artificial intelligence, and this is a way that it could be potentially used for the greater good. but the fact is, we have to be able to address these concerns. as they are being tested on the streets of san francisco, we want to make sure we are working hand-in-hand with the companies to ensure safety. because ultimately, we don't necessarily have the authority to regulate this industry, but

we have made it clear to the various industries that exist that we want to partner, we want them to address the safety concerns, we want them to make adjustments. they have the technology in some cases to do so. i think the response times have definitely improved. before, it took a really long time to get anyone to respond to a vehicle that just stopped in the middle of the street. so working closely with them has led to some change and a faster response time. i am open minded about the technology on what is going -- it is going to do developed right here in san francisco. if those mapl vehicles can maken san francisco, they can make it anywhere. kristen: finally, cyrus has the last question, she wants to know what your ideal san francisco looks and feels like. >> san francisco's a beautiful city. all over the city. my idea of san francisco looks like more housing units. it looks like a downtown that is not just about retail, that

isn't just about the financial district, but it has a lot of different sectors, and has her university -- our universities. today i asked if they were interested in looking at our downtown is a place for not just housing, but for lab space, to expand their footprint. i talked about a possible soccer stadium. the u.s.a. women's team is going to be fighting it out this thursday. we are excited about that. but soccer has become increasingly popular. so it's really about adjusting to a new normal and that is not just that can only happen, it's, how do we make all those things happen together in our downtown area where downtown becomes more than just a financial district? it becomes a community, a neighborhood with diverse uses and diverse opportunities for it to continue to thrive. kristen: giving mixed-use new meaning. thank you so much for coming in today, mayor london breed. take care. coming up next, even as the city

tries to fight the drug crisis, a new drug five times more powerful than fentanyl is now on the market. our media partner, the san francisco standard, will be back with the details, when

kristen: we continue our focus on one of the most pressing issues facing san francisco and the bay area. the deadly fentanyl epidemic. the san francisco standard has yet another article out today on a drug that's been found and sold on city streets, one that is five times more -- up to five times more powerful than fentanyl. joining us live again is the san francisco standard's david sjostedt. welcome back. what is this substance that is way more powerful than fentanyl, potentially? what's it called? >> is called -- it is called floral fentanyl. it is an analog of fentanyl. but still a new drug. it's very similar to fentanyl but the depending on

the string you get, it can be half as powerful or up to five times as powerful. there's not as much research on as we would like at this point, so those numbers could give or take. kristen: where is it coming from? how do we know it is here? >> we know it is here because the medical examiner went back to every single person who died of a drug overdose in 2022 retested their samples and retested the pipes that they had been found smoking from, and did it with the knowledge that there might be new drugs involved. so retested it for all these different types of drugs and found that around 50 people had actually ingested this other fentanyl before they had died. and so -- yeah. kristen: i had read that it was a thing in the east coast a while ago? >> yeah, it's interesting, the drug seemed to migrate from the

east coast to the west coast, and so it's usually a harbinger when you see a new drug popping up on these codes that is going to soon come to san francisco and the west coast. and that's what happened here. the same thing with fentanyl in 2013. kristen: does it give a different kind of high? >> the people i've spoken to who have used this drug that was sold to them as a stronger fentanyl, they were given different names for it, but basically it is just a stronger high with a bit different taste, but again, this news just came in today, so we are still working through exactly the extent of this drug's presence on the street. kristen: there's also another dangerous new animal tranquilizer. tell us about that. >> zyloxine is a that's been used on large animals. basically it is seeping into

the supply of other drugs. so people who are using it might not know they are using it, all of a sudden they are sleeping for 12 hours at a time, and that causes a loss of blood flow, which then causes their skin to decay and just some really terrible side effects that come along with zyloxine, and it's put health officials on notice. kristen: do we know how many deaths we have seen locally from these two new drugs? >> i believe it was from floral fentanyl and 15 from zyloxine last year. those deaths came in combination with fentanyl beer but it doesn't seem that people are really using it on its own or seeking it out. it's ending up in their drugs. so it's unclear whether they died from fentanyl or from xylozine. kristen: does narcan reverse overdoses with these like it does with fentanyl? >> the stronger the fentanyl

gets, the more resistant it becomes to narcan but it's all does work, it just might take -- it still does work, it just might take more doses and you have to get to it quicker and quicker as the drugs get stronger. with zyloxine, narcan work because it is not an opioid but the chances of fatally overdosing on it are much less than with fentanyl. kristen: nonetheless, new drugs to be concerned about and worry for. perhaps that is tied to the city's hardening approach to what's happening out there. thank you so much, really appreciate coming on today, david sjostedt. you can check out david's stories today and more of the san francisco standard's other original reporting on their website. sfstandard.com. we should mention you can also watch abc7 news reporter tara campbell's documentary "injecting hope" on demand. she traveled to vancouver, canada to lo anorth america's first ever safe drug

injection site. the documenty available on our abc7 bay area streaming tv app. we'll be right back.

kristen: thank you so much for joining us today for "getting answers." especially those of you who submitted questions for san francisco mayor london breed. we will be here every weekday at 3:00 p.m. answering questions with experts from around the bay ar >> david: tonight, breaking news involving former president trump. trump suggesting his own arrest is now likely. the former president says he's been informed that he's a target in another federal criminal investigation. trump suggesting an indictment and arrest is likely coming.