I feel called to respond to an article published in the San Francisco Chronicle called, “S.F. nonprofits give foil and pipes to fentanyl users. Critics say it’s making drug crisis worse.”

 

While I appreciate diverse perspectives on how we best combat the overdose epidemic that is ravaging communities around the country, I also want to be clear about how GLIDE is responding to this challenge every day.

 

At GLIDE, we offer a 360 degree, personalized approach to treat substance use disorder. This approach includes introducing safer drug use habits to prevent intentional overdoses and the spread of disease, medically assisted treatment (including referrals for methadone and suboxone), detox/inpatient bed referrals, and everything along the continuum of care.

 

It includes the needs of drug users and non users alike with the goal of creating safer, healthier communities for everyone. We offer a series of twelve step programs for people needing abstinence-based recovery environments and the demand for these groups has been tremendous.

 

As the President & CEO of GLIDE, my job is to lead a love agenda. Every day, we invite people into our doors who are in need of physical, mental, and spiritual healing from so many afflictions in our world. When we lead with this kind of unconditional love, we see people who experience a true sense of the word recovery – a return to a healthy state of mind, body, and spirit. When you have a healthy GLIDE, you have a healthy San Francisco.

 

I’m a sixth generation San Franciscan. I grew up in the Bayview during the crack and heroin epidemic. I saw people I love suffer because of their addiction. I saw families torn apart as they fought to keep their kids and community members safe.

 

What did not work during this era was to shame people, to judge them, and to try and arrest our way out of it. What we know worked then and works now is surrounding people with a deep sense of love, radical inclusivity, and community – and the resources to offer a strong response to the core issues that drive addiction. This is the commitment of GLIDE’s programs and we know they work! 

 

When I think about what we’re going through everyday, I channel the legacy of my predecessor, Reverend Cecil Williams and Janice Mirikitani. They never turned away from the challenge of addiction that was rampant in San Francisco during the 80s and 90s, and they certainly never shamed a person struggling with the disease. They invited them in to share their stories, to lessen their pain, to help them heal on the road to recovery.

 

During one of those gatherings, Rev. Williams described how “All of those gathered stood up together. The GLIDE staff, Black community leaders, addicts, prostitutes, and grandmothers–poor, wealthy, illiterate and educated– we told our stories of recovery. We told our stories of faith and our stories of resistance.”

 

This is my love agenda. This is the pulse and the heartbeat of GLIDE. We know what works to create a more loving, just, and healthy society in which all people flourish.

 

I invite you to be part of it. Come by GLIDE and see our work first hand. Our doors are always open for you!

 

Dr. Gina Fromer
GLIDE President & CEO