The US spends far more now on social welfare than it did in the 1950s, 60s or 70s. Social assistance to drug addicts concentrated in neighourhoods where a disp

The US spends far more now on social welfare than it did in the 1950s, 60s or 70s. Social assistance to drug addicts concentrated in neighourhoods where a disproportionate number reside, combined with reluctance to institutionalize them, or otherwise force them to stop doing drugs, creates ghettos where drug abuse predominates, that perpetuate drug use lifestyles. From the other end, restrictions on housing construction, like zoning by-laws, and limitations on private property rights, like rent control, lead to housing scarcity, which pushes more people to the margins where they are more likely fall through the cracks.