Homelessness and Drug Addiction

[Frostberg]

Thought I'd share this video made by KOMO news in Seattle. This is a problem most of our major cities are facing all over the country.

 

Its an hour long but well worth your time. 

 

 

[Nebfanatic]

Haven't watched the video yet, but what can we do about this crisis? There are many factors that contribute to this issue it makes it hard to pin them all down. One thing that I think would help, at least on the drug addiction side of things is to end the war on drugs. We need a different, more effective approach then just throwing folks in jail. Another issue is overperscription by medical professionals. This is the starting point of addiction for many. The addiction aspect is one of the major issues to solve when it comes to the homelessness crisis IMO. It doesn't contribute to everyone being on the street, but it plays a large part in putting people there and not only that but also keeping them there. Some may say there will always be a homeless addict, but I think this is a serious issue that we can solve and in doing so will strengthen our society.

[TGHusker]

1 hour ago, Nebfanatic said:

Haven't watched the video yet, but what can we do about this crisis? There are many factors that contribute to this issue it makes it hard to pin them all down. One thing that I think would help, at least on the drug addiction side of things is to end the war on drugs. We need a different, more effective approach then just throwing folks in jail. Another issue is overperscription by medical professionals. This is the starting point of addiction for many. The addiction aspect is one of the major issues to solve when it comes to the homelessness crisis IMO. It doesn't contribute to everyone being on the street, but it plays a large part in putting people there and not only that but also keeping them there. Some may say there will always be a homeless addict, but I think this is a serious issue that we can solve and in doing so will strengthen our society.

Only illegal drug pushers should be thrown in jail.  Users should get paid by govt medical help for rehab if they don't have a health plan. The cost of rehab is less expensive than throwing them in jail which solves nothing.  Pushers would also include drug pushing pain center doctors that are abusing patients wt automatic opioid prescrips that are crippling this nation.  There is a pain center on the top floor of the office building where I teach as a part time adjunct -  one of the school administrators told me it is like a cattle car operation -pushing people in throughout the day.   The opioid crisis is creating a new homeless class and a new addiction class of people.

[Nebfanatic]

6 minutes ago, TGHusker said:

Only illegal drug pushers should be thrown in jail.  Users should get paid by govt medical help for rehab if they don't have a health plan. The cost of rehab is less expensive than throwing them in jail which solves nothing.  Pushers would also include drug pushing pain center doctors that are abusing patients wt automatic opioid prescrips that are crippling this nation.  There is a pain center on the top floor of the office building where I teach as a part time adjunct -  one of the school administrators told me it is like a cattle car operation -pushing people in throughout the day.   The opioid crisis is creating a new homeless class and a new addiction class of people.

I agree with this pretty strongly. Portugal has had success taking a different approach to drug use. Jail demoralize people and does nothing to teach them to get better. We need a way to uplift the addicted to show them there is more to life. Jail doesn't accomplish this, in fact it exacerbates the problem. The dealers should be punished, sure. The users need a step to help them get out of the hole, right now we just give them a shovel and tell them to dig deeper. 

[DevoHusker]

2 hours ago, Nebfanatic said:

Haven't watched the video yet, but what can we do about this crisis? There are many factors that contribute to this issue it makes it hard to pin them all down. One thing that I think would help, at least on the drug addiction side of things is to end the war on drugs. We need a different, more effective approach then just throwing folks in jail. Another issue is overperscription by medical professionals. This is the starting point of addiction for many. The addiction aspect is one of the major issues to solve when it comes to the homelessness crisis IMO. It doesn't contribute to everyone being on the street, but it plays a large part in putting people there and not only that but also keeping them there. Some may say there will always be a homeless addict, but I think this is a serious issue that we can solve and in doing so will strengthen our society.

 

I agree with two of your points.

 

We need a different, more effective approach...and, no matter what tools are developed and used...there will always be homeless drug addicts

[BigRedBuster]

2 hours ago, TGHusker said:

Only illegal drug pushers should be thrown in jail.  Users should get paid by govt medical help for rehab if they don't have a health plan. The cost of rehab is less expensive than throwing them in jail which solves nothing.  Pushers would also include drug pushing pain center doctors that are abusing patients wt automatic opioid prescrips that are crippling this nation.  There is a pain center on the top floor of the office building where I teach as a part time adjunct -  one of the school administrators told me it is like a cattle car operation -pushing people in throughout the day.   The opioid crisis is creating a new homeless class and a new addiction class of people.

I agree with this. Someone arrested for a small amount of crack shouldn’t be taking up space in our prisons. The person who sold them that should be. 

 

One problem is that we need to actually arrest the dealers. I know of situations where the cops know a house is a meth house and they don’t bust it. It’s ftustrating. 

[TGHusker]

42 minutes ago, BigRedBuster said:

I agree with this. Someone arrested for a small amount of crack shouldn’t be taking up space in our prisons. The person who sold them that should be. 

 

One problem is that we need to actually arrest the dealers. I know of situations where the cops know a house is a meth house and they don’t bust it. It’s ftustrating. 

I imagine the cops get frustrated when they see the dealers back on the street in no time. 

[Frostberg]

Drug users need to be given the option - jail or rehab. Drug addiction is why most of the homeless stay on the streets. It becomes the only way they know life. Give the video a watch, it address pretty much everything that had been discussed. 

[Moiraine]

Watched this a few days ago and didn’t know where to post it. Some NSFW language.

 

 

[BigRedBuster]

I fully support this move by San Francisco. 

 

 

[RedDenver]

3 hours ago, BigRedBuster said:

I fully support this move by San Francisco. 

 

 

The devil is in the details. If this is going to be enforced then there needs to be a mechanism in place for judges to release people independent of the mental illness staff opinions and for review of the mental illness facilities and staff.

[BigRedBuster]

1 hour ago, RedDenver said:

The devil is in the details. If this is going to be enforced then there needs to be a mechanism in place for judges to release people independent of the mental illness staff opinions and for review of the mental illness facilities and staff.

 

I agree.

 

But, just leaving these people in the streets is a bad option.

[RedDenver]

3 hours ago, BigRedBuster said:

 

I agree.

 

But, just leaving these people in the streets is a bad option.

Agreed. I'm just concerned about the "forced" part. We should always be careful about giving the government the power to take away our freedoms.

[BigRedBuster]

17 minutes ago, RedDenver said:

Agreed. I'm just concerned about the "forced" part. We should always be careful about giving the government the power to take away our freedoms.

 

I think there is a level of disfunction with a person where they can be put into the care of the state. We do it with kids all the time in the foster care program.  There is obviously good things and bad things about that program, but I don't think anyone would argue it should be completely done away with....because it's needed.

I view this as a very similar situation only with adults.  You would need a social worker involved with every case.  They would need to be involved to make sure the person is allowed to leave at the appropriate time.

 

We used to have many county farms and asylums across the nation where people, who couldn't take care of themselves, stayed and were cared for.  There were well documented abuses of these programs and therefore they were closed.  I think that went too far.  There is a need.  They just need better managed.

[Moiraine]

IMO it depends on who they’re harming, but figuring that out is difficult. But if they’re only harming themselves and don’t want help, maybe we should leave them alone.