b buprenorphine coulctbe more efe in rural counties for people that can't take that bus ride that's an hour ad a half methadone clinic that's hard to reach. another thing i've been following is the efforts in san francisco which are really amazing around harm reduction. so this is something for folks who are not yet ready to maybe transitn to treatment but in san francisco these things mean you can go to a needle exchange and you can get clean needles, clean syringes, you can even ges little strhat test a drug to see if it has fentanyl in it. someone will s probablyill do that drug, but maybe if they know there's fentanyl iny it t will use less of it. they will use it with people around. anoter thing that we're doing in san francisco and other places around the state is wstributing narcan,hich is the opioid reversal drug. i went with one of these harm duction individuals and she trained bartenders and people who work in clubs. that is totally unique. so next to their first aid kit they are going to have a little nasal spray injector of narcan. >> interesting. dr. steiger, with all of t

reac who don't have access to it, you're going to ksve other trp your sleeve and that's where buprenorphine is very effective, almost as effective. think the key thing to know is not being in treatment is extremely risky. risk of death, all cause mes the mortality, mostly driven by overse, but all cause mortality goes up if you're not in treatment for opioid use disorder. we'd like to say that people can do really, really well without any medication, but that doesn't happen th often. >> you can't quit cold turkey nkts you can't quit cold turkey. much of the attention has been focused on medical doctors prescribing thesetdrugs, what about other medical professionals like densts? are weoverlooking those other specialties in the fight againsi ops? >> at the end of the obama administration there was legislation that allowed nurse practitioners and physicians to prescribe buprenorphine. they should be ablea to to people to reduce harm from their use. >> we will have to lea it there. dr. scott steiger,a la kleiver and brian with marin county council. >>> on tuesday president trump announced he wi

trained professionals would prescribe buprenorphine to hundreds of homeless drug addicts. they tested the drug and 60% of 200 people who began treatment are still working on staying clean. >>> today, the salvation army will pass out food, socks, and hygiene kits to the homeless in san francisco. this was a video taken from the bart station this month shows how dire the situation is. people in need line the station corridors, and army officers and volunteers will serve the area today between 1:30 and 4:00 in the afternoon. >>> a south bay teacher accused of sexual harassment will not be fired. our media partner, bay area news group, reports he'll remain a civics teacher at santa clara high school. he resigned from the city council and withdrew from the county supervisor race after several women, including former students, stay he behaved inappropriately towards them. he denies the allegations. many parents are unhappy with the school district's decision to keep caserta on staff. in response, the district says they are creating a sexual harassment task force educating parent

sven and buprenorphine. out that i was loosing hope you but i got it. i'd like to introduce someone from the homeless outreach program or the homeless program, jeff >> thank you, chris. [applause] >> my name is jeff with the department of homelessness and supportive housing. i want to thank you all for being here today. i want to thank the department of public-health. homelessness is a complex problem and it requires the partnership amongst many city departments and individuals and people experiencing homelessness to resolve this issue and this is just one of many steps that we need to take. we're very excited about expanding this pilot that we started with d.p.h. many, many months ago. i believe it was in late 2016. i want to thank mayor farrell for his leadership in expanding this important program. so thank you again for being here today and we'll take questions over at the side. thank you. [applaus adjourned. >> shop & dine in the 49 promotes local businesses and challenges residents to do their shop & dine in the 49 with within the 49 square miles

the specific drug they want to prescribe to folks called buprenorphine. according to san francisco chronicle, it works faster than methadone in that it stops craving immediately. the department of public health did a test on the drug at tent encampments in san francisco about two years ago and they said 60% of the 200 people who use the drug are still working to stay clean. now as far as the city's plan goes, a 10-person team hitting the streets to prescribe the drug to 200 people over a two-year period. the funds for the program will be included in the mayor's current budget proposal. the department estimates their about are about 11,000 heroin addicts, they pick up 12,500 needles in homeless encampments per month. they got a behind the scenes look at one in canada. you can read more about that on our website, nbcbayarea.com. live at the golden gate bridge, pete suratos for "today in the bay." >> thank you for the update, keeping us updated. >> it is 6:33 right now. a follow-up now. today the man accused of driving high and killing three people is due in