SAN FRANCISCO – Ricci Wynne stepped out of his home in San Francisco’s Civic Center neighborhood and witnessed a typical sight: masked drug dealers dressed head-to-toe in black as addicts act erratically — if they’re not slumped over. And the bus stops, he said, have been “hijacked” as open-air drug markets.
“I pay $2,500 a month for a studio apartment in this area,” Wynne, a drug abstinence advocate, told Fox News. Seconds later, he was walking through a crowd of drug dealers and people smoking fentanyl at a bus stop blocks from his home.
“Bus stops are basically being hijacked by drug dealers and drug users, and it’s turned into like one of the biggest open-air drug markets here in San Francisco,” he said, pointing at the bus stops near his home. “It’s kind of jarring and can be really traumatizing to some people, especially young children.”
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Wynne, a former drug user who was previously incarcerated for cocaine trafficking, filmed a viral video last summer of young children exiting a bus and walking through an open-air drug market. Wynne showed Fox News where the video was filmed to see how the situation has changed.
“After I made the video down here with the children, it created such a ruckus that they put up these fences, kind of like a grandstand to try to act like they were going to do something,” Wynne said, pointing at chain link fences installed by the stop. “And I actually almost fell for it.”
“Some of the drug dealers, they are wearing masks and ponchos,” he said, walking through the stop. “You’ll see these people just out there selling and smoking drugs.”
Ricci Wynne, a San Francisco waiter and activist, walks through his local bus stop occupied by drug dealers and users.
(Fox News Digital / Jon Michael Raasch)
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There were 556 accidental overdose deaths in San Francisco between January 2022 and November 2022, according to city data. More than 400 were from fentanyl.
Wynne said he’s seen drug users in his neighborhood wielding baseball bats, pipes and knives while experiencing psychosis.
Drug users and drug dealers across the street from the San Francisco Federal Building.
(Fox News Digital / Jon Michael Raasch)
“My family members don’t even really like to come down here to see me because of the crime,” he told Fox News. “It’s just unbelievable that we can’t get city officials to do their job.”
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Wynne said he has not seen San Francisco improve under the leadership of District Attorney Brooke Jenkins, who was elected in November 2022. She replaced Chesa Boudin, who was recalled after critics accused him of having lenient policies that led to increased crime.
“It’s just back to business as usual,” Wynne said. “As soon as Brooke Jenkins got elected, it’s like she secured her spot, so who cares.”
Drug users and dealers occupy a bus stop in San Francisco.
(Fox News Digital / Jon Michael Raasch)
“We cannot get the San Francisco Police Department to do their job to clean up our city, so our children and our family members are safe walking down the street,” he continued. “It’s very sad.”
SFPD spokesperson Robert Rueca told Fox News the department is “currently challenged with a staffing shortage of approximately 500 officers that causes us to prioritize calls for service, yet we continue to make narcotics related arrests and work closely with the DA on these cases for prosecutions.”
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Wynne, a proponent of abstinence-based drug recovery, told Fox News that San Francisco’s policies, like funding harm reduction centers that provide syringes, tin foil and other drug paraphernalia, enable drug users to continue getting high.
“This is not acceptable,” Wynne said. “It’s very sad.”
Jenkins’ office did not respond to a request for comment.
To see Wynne visit the open-air drug markets, click here.
