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No, the area of the country with the biggest drug problem is Appalachia [1]. California is better than most states in terms of drug overdose deaths. And as othe

No, the area of the country with the biggest drug problem is Appalachia [1]. California is better than most states in terms of drug overdose deaths. And as others have pointed out, psychedelics aren't really the problematic drugs. [1] https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/pressroom/sosmap/drug_poisoning_mortality/drug_poisoning.htm https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/pressroom/sosmap/drug_poisoning_mor...

olivermarks 5y ago
If you have time I suggest watching the videos in this thread shot yesterday by Dr Shellenberger of Tom Wolf, a recovered SF addict, walking around in Venice beach Los Angeles and talking with Garry Featherstone, owner of Homeless Enterprise, who feeds the homeless in Venice Beach and works on the streets there. It is very revealing. https://twitter.com/ShellenbergerMD/status/1399889798320443393 https://twitter.com/ShellenbergerMD/status/13998897983204433...
- SmooL 5y ago
  Wow, that was excellent, thank you for linking this
  - olivermarks 5y ago
    There are only 6000 pysch beds in all of California. Psychedelic drugs can induce serious mental illness. If California wants to decriminalize this is a good opportunity to greatly increase psychological services to help drug casualties and provide long term care.
TrispusAttucks 5y ago
While true, I'm not certain that drug overdoses directly correlates with homelessness, which is what I think the parent was highlighting.
- dragonwriter 5y ago
  > I'm not certain that drug overdoses directly correlates with homelessness, No, but it does correlate with drug addiction. > which is what I think the parent was highlighting. They were attempting to insinuate that the homelessness problem.in California was due to “literal armies of drug addicts” and not prosperity combined with economic inequality resulting in housing price out of reach of more of the lower end of the working class than is the case in the country as a whole. The real nature of California’s homelessness problem makes this law largely irrelevant to it, and vice versa.
- zucker42 5y ago
  The parent claimed without proof that California has a huge drug problem. I interpreted this to be part of an argument that this measure would contribute to this purported drug problem. But the first question I asked was "is California's drug problem indeed worse than other states", and the first objective metric I thought of was deaths by overdose. The context of this exchange in a larger strain of debate is there is a long running caricature of California as a failed state with rampant problems, based partially on the truth, but usually perpetuated and exaggerated by people from out of state with a political agenda. California has a huge problem with homelessness and COL, but I interpret this as mainly caused by terrible housing policies, and am skeptical of people who conclude that this means California's policies and/or culture are generally terrible. Specifically, in this case, homelessness in CA in an insufficient reason for me to conclude that CA is heading the wrong direction on drug policy.

olivermarks 5y ago

If you have time I suggest watching the videos in this thread shot yesterday by Dr Shellenberger of Tom Wolf, a recovered SF addict, walking around in Venice beach Los Angeles and talking with Garry Featherstone, owner of Homeless Enterprise, who feeds the homeless in Venice Beach and works on the streets there. It is very revealing. https://twitter.com/ShellenbergerMD/status/1399889798320443393 https://twitter.com/ShellenbergerMD/status/13998897983204433...

SmooL 5y ago
Wow, that was excellent, thank you for linking this
- olivermarks 5y ago
  There are only 6000 pysch beds in all of California. Psychedelic drugs can induce serious mental illness. If California wants to decriminalize this is a good opportunity to greatly increase psychological services to help drug casualties and provide long term care.

TrispusAttucks 5y ago

While true, I'm not certain that drug overdoses directly correlates with homelessness, which is what I think the parent was highlighting.

dragonwriter 5y ago
> I'm not certain that drug overdoses directly correlates with homelessness, No, but it does correlate with drug addiction. > which is what I think the parent was highlighting. They were attempting to insinuate that the homelessness problem.in California was due to “literal armies of drug addicts” and not prosperity combined with economic inequality resulting in housing price out of reach of more of the lower end of the working class than is the case in the country as a whole. The real nature of California’s homelessness problem makes this law largely irrelevant to it, and vice versa.
zucker42 5y ago
The parent claimed without proof that California has a huge drug problem. I interpreted this to be part of an argument that this measure would contribute to this purported drug problem. But the first question I asked was "is California's drug problem indeed worse than other states", and the first objective metric I thought of was deaths by overdose. The context of this exchange in a larger strain of debate is there is a long running caricature of California as a failed state with rampant problems, based partially on the truth, but usually perpetuated and exaggerated by people from out of state with a political agenda. California has a huge problem with homelessness and COL, but I interpret this as mainly caused by terrible housing policies, and am skeptical of people who conclude that this means California's policies and/or culture are generally terrible. Specifically, in this case, homelessness in CA in an insufficient reason for me to conclude that CA is heading the wrong direction on drug policy.