It is an article written more in sadness then anger (though there's anger there). Anecdote: a couple of weeks ago I took an Uber to Civic Center to BART back t

It is an article written more in sadness then anger (though there's anger there). Anecdote: a couple of weeks ago I took an Uber to Civic Center to BART back to the East Bay. It was the evening but not super late. The driver deposited me on a street behind Market that was, I realised as I got out of the car, filled with people smoking crack or taking other hard drugs. I didn't feel particularly unsafe walking past them all - if nothing else they seemed pretty out of it. It was squalid though. Around the corner I saw one police car. Parked across the street, doing nothing. Observing, I guess, in case someone like me got into trouble? My main thought was: how on earth is this good for anyone? What sort of lives are any of the people I'd just passed going to have? And how many people got robbed to fund all this poison? A second anecdote: I was on a bus going down Geary. Ticket inspectors got on to check out passes etc. An older man, very thin, was asked for his ticket. I don't have one, he said. He was clearly homeless. Look, said the ticket inspector, I'm going to write you up. But I'm also going to get you help. He proceeded to get the man's details. These felt like two very different approaches. Only one of which has a chance to improve lives.