San Francisco, CA
Kids are selling drugs, stolen goods in SF. No one is talking about it
But anecdotally, nonprofit workers and city employees said they’ve seen an uptick in young people dealing drugs and stolen goods in the Tenderloin since the pandemic began in 2020.
“Sometimes you see groups of kids,” said Cheryl Thornton, an urban health worker who mentors youth in the Bayview and Potrero Hill neighborhoods. “I see them all around the Tenderloin.”
The Public Defender’s Office said many juveniles arrested in the city are victims of human trafficking, extreme poverty, abandonment and violence.
San Francisco’s chief juvenile probation officer, Katy Miller, said most youth accused of selling drugs are immigrants from Central America who arrived in the U.S. without their parents.
“They’re just young Black kids and young Hispanic kids,” Thornton said. “So nobody really cares.”