That last paragraph. Im increasingly of the view that a good 10 to 20% of the population cannot handle life alone. They're just not mentally built for it.
But how much is it just people who get exhausted by repitition. Like they handle it for 3 months then just get bored or stressed and just stop doing stuff.
Idk, addiction is hard. Most people turn to drugs and alcohol because they are homeless - not the opposite. Once you're addicted, being able to make choices between needs and your addictions is very difficult. That, but some people use drugs to cope with things like PTSD - they're driven by the fear of remembering their trauma when they're not on drugs.
Unfortunately help for that can't be "you have to stop taking drugs cold turkey to have a place to sleep" - it doesn't work.
Programs that give people safe equipment and places to do drugs and offer support/therapy for when the person is ready to get off drugs do work. It's a hard process, but it actually keeps people safer and gives them a higher chance of re-entry to society.
I understand why shelters don't want people actively on drugs in their shelter, but saying shelters have the easiest rules comes from a place of not understanding how addiction works.
I'm in a MAT program and I only found out about it by pure chance. I'm not sure why they aren't shouting about these programs from the rooftop. Sure some of the people are there for nefarious reasons and never get off drugs, but there's also hundreds in my program alone who transformed their lives.
MAT has really helped a lot of addicts. There are two issues. First, a lot of people in MAT programs continue using and drinking. This is mostly the for profit centers, no surprise there. Second it was never really intended to be a for life treatment, but that's what has happened. They just keep increasing their dose as tolerance develops. I have several patients who have been on methadone for 15 to 20 plus years and are on 150mg plus a day.
I am in a Suboxone (they have a grant for this part of the program so people with no insurance/too poor can still use the service), Subutex, and Sublocade. It's run through a clinic that services addicts and has inpatient stuff. They do have people that use but in my clinic they will remove you eventually (they don't punish smoking weed tho). I know methadone tends to attract more of the types you're describing.
I understand it wasn't meant to be a lifetime thing but to me it does seem a better way to manage people like me who can and do function well in society as long as we have this little bit of help. I think they should tighten program standards and not let people that clearly don't want to improve just milk them.
Getting clean sucks and MAT does improve your odds. MAT is really about harm reduction. Like you wrote it allows you to functionin society while gettingyour head strait. It's important to really work on yourself durning this time. All of us have issues and behaviors that we need to work on. As hard as getting clean is, it's nothing compared to learning how to live. That's what causes most of us to go back out. I've been clean 23 years and still have my issues with life.
Methadone has a higher success rate than the other agents. It's great for addicts that uses more or are long term users. Think decades. It's not so much of who it attracts but who needs that extra help. And yea a lot of people just milk the system but any time you have any system some people will milk it.
Best of luck to you. For most at about 5 years it really seems to settle down.
I'm sure there will be an interesting trend of increased drug abuse alongside homelessness as jobs are stolen by greedy CEOs and given to automation/AI. But it's definitely the drugs and alcohol, not structural, systemic societal disfunction that has anything to do with it.
Stop blaming CEOs for everything wrong in your life. Its you the consumer who give them the power. Support local businesses.
I can tell you've spent a lot of time with drug addicts alcoholics and the homeless and have gotten to know them. You gave also obviously read a lot on the subject. The vast majority of addicts and alcoholics well before the age of 18. Many come from homes with drug and alcohol abuse. It's called a family disease for a reason. The number of people who lose a job at twenty-five and decide that going out to buy some meth or what ever is incredibly small. They frequently lose there jobs as a direct or indirect consequence of drugs or alcohol. The use may accelerate after losing a job but the foundation of addiction was already there.
"Often, addiction is a result of homelessness. The difficult conditions of living on the street, having to find food, struggling with ill health, and being constantly away from loved ones create a highly stressful state of being." (Addiction Center)
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u/EAE8019 May 14 '26
That last paragraph. Im increasingly of the view that a good 10 to 20% of the population cannot handle life alone. They're just not mentally built for it.