A San Francisco Supervisor has some new proposed legislation that would pay an extra $100/week incentive to city welfare recipients if they are in substance-abuse treatment and succeed in staying clean.

Supervisor Matt Dorsey announced proposed legislation Monday, dubbed "Cash Not Drugs," that would a $100 each week to recipients of the County Adult Assistance Program (CAPP) who have been diagnosed with a substance use disorder and referred to treatment, and who voluntarily test negative for illicit drugs.

The approach, more carrot than stick, appears to be a revised approach to drug-testing welfare recipients as a condition of receiving public assistance. Breed got some flack last fall for proposing just that, and a ballot measure, Prop F, was subsequently approved by voters in March that seemed to codify such a requirement — a vote that may outside San Francisco saw as symbolic of the city's shift to the right, politically. But, as we reported in May, it turns out they're not forcibly drug-testing anyone. It's more of an honor system, with a questionnaire, and it launches on January 1, 2025.

If Dorsey's latest legislation passes, it would turn Prop F into an incentivized drug-testing effort.

"A humane and effective approach to San Francisco’s drug crisis must include rewarding good behavior, and not solely punishing bad behavior," Dorsey said in a statement. "Cash Not Drugs is a contingency management program that adopts the most studied and successful public health interventions we know to help those who struggle with addiction."

Dorsey continued, "By incentivizing and supporting long-term recovery, Cash Not Drugs won’t just help lives, but change lives for the better."

"The drug crisis we are facing requires different strategies to get people into treatment, in addition to the important enforcement work happening in our neighborhoods," said Breed in her own statement. "Contingency management is an important tool that has proven to be effective here in San Francisco, and Cash Not Drugs will help support getting more people into treatment and address the conditions we see on our streets."

Breed added, in comments at City Hall Monday to a rally of dozens of recovering addicts, per the Chronicle, "I want to make it just as easy to get treatment as it is to go out there and buy dope. Whatever it takes to get people on the right path — that’s what we need to do.”

"Cash Not Drugs" calls to mind former Mayor Gavin Newsom's "Care Not Cash" initiative from the early aughts, which sought to reduce monthly general assistance grants in favor of providing service vouchers — which itself was aimed at reducing public assistance for the drug addicted and homeless, and encouraging treatment.

Trent Rhorer, executive director of the cityʼs Human Services Agency, addressed this measure with regard to Prop F, in a statement, saying, "When voters passed Proposition F by a large margin last March, they sent a strong message that they believed single adults on public assistance, who face significantly higher risks for substance use disorders, should be clinically assessed and offered opportunities for treatment."

Related: SF’s New ‘Drug Screening for Welfare’ Law Not as Harsh as Advertised, Basically Just an Honor System