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Good Samaritan Offers Help, Hope to San Francisco’s Homeless, Drug-Addicted

JJ Smith takes drug addicts to Salvation Army programs where they’re offered treatment on demand to detox and take steps toward their recovery.
Good Samaritan Offers Help, Hope to San Francisco’s Homeless, Drug-Addicted
JJ Smith walks down the streets of the Tenderloin District in San Francisco, Calif., on Feb. 23, 2023. John Fredricks/The Epoch Times
Brad Jones
Brad Jones
10/21/2024|Updated: 11/6/2024
0:00

SAN FRANCISCO—A naked man wearing a red baseball cap jogs past drug users and homeless people on Jones Street, between Turk and Eddy, in the city’s Tenderloin district, while an unsuspecting woman on the street shrieks at him.

Nearby, a young man—possibly high on fentanyl, tranq, or both—is on his hands and knees in the middle of the sidewalk, oblivious to people casually walking around him. He can barely move, as if frozen. About half an hour later, he is still in the same position.

Brad Jones
Brad Jones
Author
Brad Jones is an award-winning journalist based in Southern California.
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