4 ms·
If we're looking to find root causes, then, in most cases, we can't stop at the drugs. There are almost always outside, causative circumstances which lead to th
by crtified 4y ago
If we're looking to find root causes, then, in most cases, we can't stop at the drugs. There are almost always outside, causative circumstances which lead to those individuals taking the addiction pathway in life.
It's not a type of life that many would choose knowingly with eyes wide open.
As such, I don't see much point in stopping the buck at "the addiction".
Because even if we could magically, instantly reform all such people to full health, we'd just end up with another batch soon enough, if we did not also address the underlying societal and family causes that leads to the downfall of these susceptible individuals, and creates permanent "underclasses".
- WalterBright 4y agoThe cures for homelessness in Seattle fail because homelessness is a consequence of drug addiction, and the city government will not recognize that.
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- WarOnPrivacy 4y agoLife taught me something. If one reaches old age believing that complex issues stem from (and can be resolved by focusing on) single/simple causes, one has not learned well. I suspect we're fooled into believing some simple act is a solution when pressures and harms get shifted out of our sight.
- WalterBright 4y agoPerhaps true, but resolutely pretending homelessness cannot be the result of drug addiction doesn't work, either. And I never said "all" homelessness was caused by addiction. It's 90%, at least in Seattle.
- WarOnPrivacy 4y agoIn considering that 90% of homeless people, you infer that the complexities that led them there are actually a single cause. This seems to be a fairly absurd notion. I would certainly find no wisdom in basing action on it.
- WalterBright 4y ago"60 Minutes" didn't buy it either. They went to Seattle to see for themselves, and everyone they interviewed turned out to be homeless because of drug addiction or alcoholism.
- crtified 4y agoIMO, battling poverty by way of a war on drugs is like fighting chicken pox by pressing the bumps flat. The underlying causes need to be addressed, else you'll simply get a new batch.
- WalterBright 4y agoI'm not defending the War on Drugs, which has proven to be an abysmal failure. I'm saying that the homeless problem cannot be fixed while one is pretending that drug addiction is not the cause of most of it.
- crtified 4y agoBy focusing solely upon drug addiction, one runs the risk of overlooking the myriad other complex factors which lead these people to where they are. The actual causes go further back than the addictions themselves. A person desperate enough to descend into substance abuse is already damaged. It's that damage we need to prevent, if one truly wants a 'fix'.
- WalterBright 4y agoSure, but that's not what's happening. They simply ignore the fact of drug addiction.
- bayesian_horse 4y agoThe US is actually special that quite a fraction of the homeless population isn't homeless because of substance abuse or mental illness but because of actual poverty. That rarely happens in western Europe, for example.
- WarOnPrivacy 4y agoAs someone with lots of ties to homelessness, I've long observed how it had been an all of the above situation. Typically the two sliders of mental illness(inc drug addiction) & poverty keep getting nudged up until a tipping point is reached. In the last two years however, new homeless entries are dominated by folks who suddenly got their poverty slider slammed hard. This includes renters with savings who had their home sold. They quickly found themselves in a bidding war for what few rentals were available.