SAN FRANCISCO—As JJ Smith stands in the infamous Tenderloin district on a cold, windy day in late February, he recounts the last time he saw his older brother, Rodney, alive.
That day, in early October, Rodney rode up on his bicycle and asked him for $20, he said.
“I didn’t ask him what it was for,” Smith said. “He was homeless.”
Moments later, Rodney handed the money to a drug dealer, “a Honduran with a red backpack,” he said.
“I was standing right here. I saw the whole transaction,” he said, pointing up the sidewalk on Ellis Street.
“Two hours later, I got a phone call,” Smith said. “My brother died. He OD’d.”…