Dr. Dave Smith & the Haight-Ashbury Free Clinic

Join Dr. Dave in person at the Counterculture Museum as he discusses his life and times amidst the Haight-Ashbury counterculture of the Sixties, his chronicles of the Free Clinic, and what it all means for today.

This event is FREE. Please reserve your seat(s). Can’t make the event? Order a signed copy of Healthcare is a Right by Dr. David E. Smith, MD here. 

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In the spring of 1967, hippies were flocking to San Francisco by the tens of thousands, drawn by the allure of utopian dreams, “free love,” drugs, and rock ‘n’ roll, while politicians complained they were the “greatest threat to America’s traditional social structure”—a notion, writes Steve Heilig, many of them might take as a compliment.

David E. Smith, MD, saw many an unmet need among the influx of newcomers to the Haight: some had arrived with drug dependencies and mental health struggles, while others soon found themselves too deep in the ubiquity of substances that pervaded the scene. That, plus the simple fact that sooner or later everyone needs medical care, led Dr. Dave to open the Haight-Ashbury Free Medical Clinic—the first of its kind to offer substance abuse treatment, medical care, and mental health services free of charge, free of judgement, completely confidential, and guided by Smith’s core belief that healthcare is a right, not a privilege.

What follows is a story full of twists and turns as long and often strange as the times themselves. The decision to open the Free Clinic wasn’t what Dr. Dave originally had in mind for a career when he studied medicine. It was also far from easy— But like many back then, neither did he anticipate the tumultuous times to come, and how they would crash through society in a great and powerful wave of cultural change.

In the decades since opening the Haight-Ashbury Free Clinic on a shoestring, with a staff of volunteers, a single paid nurse, and a makeshift exam table made from the one in his kitchen, Dr. Dave has touched the lives of millions of people—many with his own hands. From facing the confusion of his professors and colleagues over his shift in direction, to courting controversy among fellow physicians with his then-novel approach to treatment, to ultimately bringing enlightened change to modern medicine with his emphasis on harm reduction and humane care, Dr. Dave is—deservedly—a living local legend.

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Dr. Smith is recognized as a national leader in the treatment of substance abuse and dependency, the psychopharmacology of drugs, new research strategies in the management of drug abuse problems, and appropriate prescribing practices for physicians. He is the founder of the Haight Ashbury Free Clinics of San Francisco & has received the Annual Award of the American Society of Addiction Medicine & the UCSF Alumnus of the Year.

Dr. Smith is the founder and publisher of the Journal of Psychoactive Drugs and co-author of Unchain Your Brain, with Dr. Daniel Amen. He has also authored or co-authored 26 books, written over 340 journal articles, edited 28 journals, and been the technical consultant for 28 drug abuse-related films. He maintains an active speaking and lecture schedule.

The Counterculture Museum thanks Dr. Dave for working with us directly, and contributing numerous personal effects, including his personal, annotated copy of Love Needs Care: A History of San Francisco’s Haight-Ashbury Free Medical Clinic and its Pioneer Role in Treating Drug-Abuse Problems (1971), his stethoscope, Haight-Ashbury Alcohol Treatment Services sign, and numerous other items.