you think that's ok? ^
that's wrong with you people - just sweep that kinda shit under the rug and act like you're helping people
I've not seen anyone here saying they think that sort of thing is 'ok' , nor pretending it doesn't exist. I'm certainly not.
I don't think anyone should have to live with the threat of unprovoked violence from drugged up / drunk people when they're just trying to walk home or go to work. Nobody should have to put up with that. On the other hand, should any human being be reduced to living in the sort of state as people do on the streets? The answer is also no.
The situation in its ENTIRETY is unacceptable.
Harm reduction can't solve the problem and isn't pretending to. We know the best we can do is mitigate some symptoms of the problem. We know we're sticking a plaster over an open wound. The thing is what you're proposing does the same. It's ALSO just a temporary and partial fix.
Because what's gonna happen with someone who's not in any mental place to quit after you forcibly detox them -? You can't keep the person in there indefinitely and all that happens is they go straight back out to resume where they left off. Doesn't solve anything, it's just pressing a pause button.
I'm perfectly aware of what the situation is like, I've LIVED close to places like you show in those clips. Heck I've practically lived IN one (though with the comparative luxury of it being a flophouse). I've been knifed by a guy who was off his head, paranoid and psychotic. I've been hit and robbed of my money. I' ve been accosted and been given foul verbal abuse for no reason. And the absolute number one issue by a mile in that environment was mental illness, which of course isn't exactly improved by frequent intoxication. The amount of people I saw who had obvious psychiatric problems, schizophrenia, bipolar, personality disorders, was staggering.
I don't wanna see an open chaotic drug scene, neither do I wanna see anyone living in filth and degradation, in a vicious cycle where you stop giving a fuck about society and society doesn't give a fuck about you. It's a systemic issue that needs systemic, far-reaching measures to even get close to resolving.
I want to have a fully legalized but strictly regulated, state-controlled drug market, because there's no eradicating substance use from human society, and that would be the most responsible way to handle it. And I want people off the street but actually re-integrated instead of simply shut up out of the way so 'they're no more trouble'. The only country so far that's made a concerted effort to achieve the latter is Finland, as far as the former goes there's not a sign of it anywhere, and any politician who dared as much as suggest the idea would end his career.
