A video of Gavin Newsom discussing California's addiction epidemic began recirculating today. In the three-year-old video, Newsom claims, "clean and sober is one of the biggest damn mistakes this country ever made" and that "everyone needs to self-medicate periodically." He was explaining his belief that homeless people seeking meals and beds in shelters shouldn't be subjected to burdensome regulations, like "please don't shoot heroin."

That's a bold strategy. So, three years out, let's reflect on how this panned out for him.

For starters, law enforcement has said California is to blame for the country's fentanyl epidemic. Yes, you heard that correctly. California is responsible for the entire nation's crisis with fentanyl. With its lax drug, border, and immigration laws, plus the convenient plethora of highways that connect nearly the entire country, California is poisoning even the reddest of states with the fatal opioid.

In California itself, fentanyl overdose deaths spiked 45% from 2020-2021. In L.A. County homeless shelters, deaths increased by 56% from 2020-2021, primarily driven by overdoses.

In 2020, San Francisco came under fire for providing homeless people with drugs and alcohol while they were quarantined in hotels. Coincidentally, homeless deaths doubled in San Francisco from 2020-2021, driven by - you guessed it - overdoses.

How's that "self-medicating" working out now?

If after all this you still have a shred of faith remaining in Gavin Newsom, first of all, I question your sanity, but also admire your hope. Second, please enjoy this video from 2008, when the then-Mayor of San Francisco Gavin Newsom promised to end homelessness. In San Francisco. In ten years.

It's important to keep an on eye California since Newsom is likely to be a top 2024 Democrat contender - given that Joe Biden can't speak and literally no one likes Kamala Harris. Except maybe Willie Brown.

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