In San Francisco on Thursday, several hundred people walked through the streets of the South of Market neighborhood and the Tenderloin for a “March Against Fentanyl.”
The march was organized by several groups, including United Playaz, Drug-Free Sidewalks, and the San Francisco Democratic Party. In attendance were many community members whose lives have been impacted by fentanyl, as well as local officials, including District Attorney Brooke Jenkins.
Community members carried signs calling out the dangers of fentanyl and sharing pictures of loved ones who lost their lives to overdoses.
Rudy Valentino, the executive director of United Playaz, said it felt necessary to hold this march.
“We want to bring some awareness to it because it doesn’t discriminate,” Valentino said. “This fentanyl is killing everybody. It doesn‘t have no age limit, no sexual preference, no gender, no religion. It’s just death.”
He added that the march aimed to raise awareness in parts of the city that have seen many overdose deaths.
Just last month, San Francisco reported 65 unintentional overdose deaths, and of those a majority involved fentanyl.
While San Francisco has made some progress in fighting overdoses, the city has recorded dozens of preliminary unintentional overdose deaths each month between 2020 and 2025, according to records from the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner.
“I personally lost my mom over a year and a half ago,” said San Francisco resident Delvon Carter, who attended the march carrying a posterboard with photos of his mom.
He said his mom died of an accidental fentanyl overdose in her apartment unit in San Francisco.
Now, Carter tries to educate others about the dangers of the drug. He said that many people don’t realize that other street drugs might be laced with fentanyl.
Carter said his goal is “just creating awareness to prevent people [from using]– or show them there’s other ways to heal from the trauma they’re dealing with in the community.”
Jenkins spoke with NBC Bay Area at the march about her efforts to fight fentanyl in her nearly three years serving as DA.
“I think I was optimistic in the beginning that I’d be able to use my system to get more people into treatment who are addicted, and, unfortunately, it has not been that effective as a tool,” Jenkins said.
She said public drug use in California is a misdemeanor, and misdemeanors “simply aren’t enough to help influence judges to push people towards treatment.”
She added that she is in meetings each week, pushing city leaders to take steps to get people treatment and support so that those people don’t wind up in the criminal justice system.
“I have to lean on public health and other partners to really do that front-end work while we more so focus on the dealers because we can be more effective in that space,” Jenkins continued, adding that she is encouraged by the city’s new director of public health, Daniel Tsai.
Many attendees at Thursday’s rally said they would like to see dealers of fentanyl face more consequences. They also said they want to see more outreach to those struggling with addiction.
“We just need more people that’s outside, actually hand-to-hand with people, making sure they know the love is here,” Carter said.
Valentino said his organization is already taking initiative to distribute Narcan in the community and to educate youth about fentanyl.
“We want to bring that awareness,” he continued. “One life saved is worth doing this march.”
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