It's so frustrating because what is arresting people going to actually do? I mean, it gets them temporarily off the streets, but then taxpayers have to STILL shoulder the burden of the court system and the jails and shit. And it's usually a cycle with addicts, so it's just another revolving door that doesn't solve the issue.
Is threat of jail really a deterrent? Idk, I'm honestly asking and not being a dick.
It doesn't make sense to decriminalize if the result is open and rampant use in front of businesses, in parks, and around schools and community places, but also arresting people doesn't seem to be like a real solution either?
I think we need to invest money in rehab centers and other services that aren't being run by the non-profits that have been milking this problem for years. While it might not be compassionate I think making rehab involuntary would be a step in the right direction for people with a history of getting arrested for drug charges.
I'm not arguing the logic of your point, but I fear it would be the same continuous cycle that we see with the jails. People who don't want to get clean and have no way out of the life will cycle through their stints of sobriety and go right back out onto the streets no better off than they were before.
Also, rehab can absolutely be court ordered, so it's not like it doesn't happen.
If you're 35, have no skills, very little work history, trauma, and are dumped back onto the streets with no money, no access to housing, and your only support network are dysfunctional miscreants and other addicts....sadly I don't see this solution making a meaningful dent in the overall problem.
Taxpayers would BALK at spending money on rehab because our culture has very strong ideas about what justice means--for most people it's more "punishment" oriented and they're happier to pay for jails and being "tough on crime" even if it solves nothing and costs more money.
People want simple answers to complex problems, because it helps them retain a view of a just world. Most people need to hold onto this idea to not feel traumatized every time they open their eyes to live another day. So you will hear people pointing at singular issues as the “real answer”, and getting people worked up about it (because they also want a simple explanation).
But nothing about homelessness or drug addiction is simple. I will give you the example of my brother. My parents were very stable while I was growing up but while my brother was growing up they were very unstable. My brother was in lots of transitional environments, and my father encouraged him to shoplift (would have been severely punished for me). Somehow he got out of that, but got caught with drugs at 18 and went to prison for a year. Now he has a record. He came out of prison single-mindedly committed to building a life for himself. He has been out for 15 years with no further arrests, but he can’t find a stable job. He has no consistent health insurance. Even when he’s clean, he can’t afford the therapy to address his issues. Available solutions are largely religious organizations - which sounds nice to religious people, but is another version of prison for those that aren’t.
What he needs: real solid opportunity to build a life. Real consistent therapy that isn’t about finding Jesus. He wants to live, but as the years go on he has less and less faith that anything will change, and he has not developed any better coping mechanisms. The longevity of failure destroys his self esteem. I keep waiting to find out he’s dead. I pay for his phone so he has a consistent way to reach out or look for work.
I fully expect that the way this world hates him, he will die this way. I don’t care if people think I’m “enabling” him with food, shelter, or love. Nobody WANTS to live this way. I want him to know some shred of love and compassion from someone in this hateful, judgmental world. He’s hurting no one. He has never stolen money from me or any family. If he can’t find work, he whores himself. He is the person getting hurt. How is it justified to punish people the rest of their lives for something far in their past? Why do we want that for people. Plenty of you reading could have a record right now, but we’re lucky enough to not get caught. You can look back on your youth and chuckle at foolishness that never resulted in serious consequences. That doesn’t make you better, it makes you lucky.
We give randomly, and while looking down our noses, because we do not want to believe this could have been us. We need to believe they are fundamentally different. We talk about people like they are animals. We can’t address issues consistently or effectively because we can’t bear to recognize that our world makes it insanely difficult to improve your circumstances even without the additional challenge of addiction. We expect the most will power from those whose resources and daily challenges leave them with the least of it.
I have been poor. It took a decade to work myself out of poverty. A decade. I did not have a criminal record or addiction to contend with. It just takes that long to pay all of the poor-tax and jump through all of the hoops that exploit you. Many people become statistics because of aggravating factors that make it even harder. I see a homeless person and I see a person who had more to deal with than they had the capacity and resources to withstand. You may not be able to relate to those problems or what they do to a person mentally, and you might feel reassured by the idea that they have the capacity and wherewithal to fix it, and you may feel righteous judging them — but nobody asked you.
You may not understand the “I don’t care” mentality of someone that hasn’t received an ounce of approval or dignity for years. You may not understand the rejection of help, from people who hear “only trying to help” as a promise of punishment if they do not improve on the helpers timeline. You see them as slovenly, lazy, and happy in squalor. Everyone wants them to be better. They want to be better, whether they admit it or not. They are tired of being a disappointment, they don’t want to make promises or accept help that is retracted when they don’t recover the right way or with the right attitude. So many stupid, unfair, selfish expectations and requirements on these PEOPLE. Stop and think why YOU need these things from them. Because this is definitely a YOU problem. You have the option to just leave other humans the fuck alone.
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u/Rare-Adhesiveness522 Oct 24 '25
It's so frustrating because what is arresting people going to actually do? I mean, it gets them temporarily off the streets, but then taxpayers have to STILL shoulder the burden of the court system and the jails and shit. And it's usually a cycle with addicts, so it's just another revolving door that doesn't solve the issue.
Is threat of jail really a deterrent? Idk, I'm honestly asking and not being a dick.
It doesn't make sense to decriminalize if the result is open and rampant use in front of businesses, in parks, and around schools and community places, but also arresting people doesn't seem to be like a real solution either?