Federal employees at the Nancy Pelosi Federal Building in San Francisco reportedly received a memo on Aug. 2 from the Department of Health and Human Services advising them to work from home when possible because of drug use and rising crime in the downtown area.
The issue was first reported by the San Francisco Chronicle.
“There are 50 people, at least, injecting and smoking fentanyl in front of the federal building,” Darren Mark Stallcup, a longtime San Francisco resident, fentanyl recovery advocate, and founder of the World Peace Movement—established to bring people of all backgrounds together to solve complex problems—told The Epoch Times.
“It’s horrible; it’s a humanitarian crisis.”
He is employed near the 18-story tower—which was built in 2007 and is home to the office of former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi—and has routinely walked past the area for nine years; he says he’s noticed a steep decline in conditions there over the past three years.
“My family has deep roots in San Francisco, and I’ve personally seen the city go from being the cultural capital of the world, to the technological capital of the world, to now the fentanyl capital of the world,” Mr. Stallcup said.
He described mornings near the federal building as a chaotic scene, with the white coroner’s van picking up dead bodies while fentanyl dealers haggle over territory.
Encampments around the building include tents, makeshift pallet houses, and structures built with strollers and tarps situated on sidewalks, in alleys, and in a parking lot behind the building.
A child day care center located across from the federal building is severely affected by crime, according to residents, as prevalent drug use is visible to children in the adjacent playground.
In December 2022, a 10-month-old child overdosed while playing on a separate playground in the city due to fentanyl exposure. He was revived, but the incident boosted awareness about the dangers of the synthetic opioid littered in public spaces.
Fentanyl was first identified as a significant problem in the city in 2019, and the number of addicted users, homeless people, and encampments has grown considerably since, according to residents. More than 400 overdose deaths were attributed to fentanyl in the first half of this year, according to the City of San Francisco, equating to more than two deaths per day.
“It went from being a couple of people camped out in front of the federal building to Honduran cartels setting up shop dealing fentanyl,” Mr. Stallcup said in an interview. “I can’t tell you how many ambulances I’ve seen there, or how many people died there.”
Calls for overdose emergencies are a routine occurrence, with paramedics testifying to the Legislature this year that on multiple occasions, patients in the city were brought to life with anti-opioid medications such as Narcan, only to be back on the street using again within hours.
Some had to be revived more than once in a 24-hour period, they said.
Videos circulating on social media from San Francisco this summer show graphic scenes of addiction, including a pregnant woman with gashes and open wounds giving birth on the sidewalk while clutching a fentanyl pipe.
Residents say they fear for not only their community but the nation, with several telling The Epoch Times that they wonder why federal agents aren’t securing the premises and question the safety of their own neighborhoods when government buildings are overrun with crime.
With federal employees now told to teleconference, the guidance adds to the growing office space vacancy in the city, with many employees resisting a return to the office and some citing fear for their safety as a reason to avoid public transportation and downtown areas.
The crisis isn’t isolated to the corner of Seventh and Mission; the Tenderloin District is experiencing unprecedented levels of homelessness, and encampments located near public schools and libraries are threatening public safety, according to residents.
Dozens of tents line the street, with residents describing the situation as dangerous and disheartening for young children forced to walk by the open-air drug use and criminal activity on the way to and from school. The 2023–24 school year began on Aug. 16.
Representatives at the federal level are taking notice, with calls for more to be done to secure government properties.
“Crime in San Francisco is so out of control that employees at the Federal Building are being told to stay home,” U.S. Rep. Kevin Kiley (R-Calif.) wrote on X on Aug. 14. “In recent months, San Francisco’s decline has reached a point of total collapse.”
Many companies, including Nordstrom, Whole Foods, Saks Fifth Avenue, and Anthropologie, already have left the area amid unprecedented theft and property crime in what some describe as a retail apocalypse.
“If California offers a preview of where our country is headed, San Francisco offers an even starker warning,” Mr. Kiley said on X. “This is where failed policies, radical politics, and public corruption are in their most advanced stage—and where residents are most rapidly fleeing.”
Residents told The Epoch Times that if National Guard members are in the city, they’re unidentifiable and not wearing uniforms, though highway patrol officers have been observed making targeted arrests in high-crime areas, they said.
The proximity to what was formerly a world-class shopping destination is contributing to the problem, as drug addicts take advantage of relaxed enforcement of shoplifting crimes and use theft to fund their addiction, according to experts.
With a Westfield mall only blocks from the most active open-air drug markets, thieves openly trade stolen goods for money or drugs in broad daylight on street corners, according to residents.
“It’s having a horrible effect on local businesses and on overall community morale,” Mr. Stallcup said. “This is fentanyl genocide, and we’re one bad batch away from a mass overdose event. This is chemical warfare on the American people in the form of fentanyl.”
Fentanyl is highly addictive, odorless, tasteless, and 50 times more powerful than heroin, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration. Its toxicity and the insidious nature by which dealers target unsuspecting victims by contaminating products—including prescription pills, party drugs, and vape cartridges—with the drug are leading to the surge in deaths, according to experts.
Residents described the levels of crime and drug abuse as a situation that’s beyond belief.
“This is worse than anything I’ve seen in traveling in the third world. It’s a fourth world,” Mr. Stallcup said. “We have to hold on to hope. The most important thing is to hold on to hope and spread peace and love.”
Rep. Pelosi’s (D-Calif.) office and the Department of Health and Human Services didn’t respond to requests for comment by press time.
