San Fran deli owner eviscerates local leaders 'in denial' about drug crisis
WARNING: Graphic footage—Deli Board owner Adam Mesnick sounds off on 'Jesse Watters Primetime' as addicts multiply in San Francisco.
A deli owner on the front lines of the battle against San Francisco's raging public drug use epidemic called out local, state and federal officials for inaction in curbing the crisis.
Deli Board owner Adam Mesnick's shop was vandalized and robbed in January 2022, and the situation in the vicinity has only gotten worse, Fox News host Jesse Watters reported Friday, adding the restaurateur has long pressured local officials to take action.
On "Jesse Watters Primetime," Mesnick said the drug crisis is a "challenge" for San Francisco, while blaming officials at all levels of government for failing to correct the problem.
"It's a bipartisan issue here," he said. "San Francisco and the city and the state and the United States all have a fentanyl epidemic on their hands."
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Drug users and drug dealers across the street from the San Francisco Federal Building. (Fox News Digital / Jon Michael Raasch)
"I think that it's very clear here that it's a tragic epidemic that the entire United States needs to be aware of."
Watters reported Mesnick has long documented the crisis in his neighborhood and city for some time, to which the shopkeeper replied it is "undeniable" that local leaders have at least taken notice to some of his footage.
"I really think that addiction is a very complicated issue," he continued. "I think addiction's biggest challenge is denial, and I think that the city, state and the United States have been in denial about this epidemic for many years."
"People are going to have to cross the aisles. People are going to have to unite and really listen to various opinions."
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View of San Francisco (Stephen Lam/San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images)
Mesnick said the dueling homelessness and drug crises should have their focus "transferred" to mental health venues as well as crisis services.
However, Mesnick also expressed hope that the tide is turning in terms of public awareness of just how bad the crises have gotten in places like San Francisco.
"The unfortunate part is that thousands of people have died," he said. "Residents like myself have reversed bodies. I really have to give a shout-out to the San Francisco Fire Department [and] the San Francisco Police Department for really saving people's lives here."
People sleep on a street in the Tenderloin neighborhood in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Janie Har)
"The overdose crisis here is objectively probably one of the biggest problems that I've ever seen, and I have to believe that there has to be a better way to treat this problem."
In a recent border drug bust, federal agents at the Port of Nogales in Arizona stopped more than 1.2 million fentanyl pills and four pounds of fentanyl powder from entering the United States in December.
The port's CBP director said the drugs were largely concealed in car doors and panels.
Fox News' Greg Wehner contributed to this report.
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