LA Skid Row Observations.....

[marino760]

Originally Posted by banjomike

The need for drugs comes from despair. When there's nothing left that can make life worthwhile in any way, drugs can ease that pain.

Herding the homeless out to some military base won't mean they will stay there. They will walk away. If it becomes a prison camp, they'll tunnel out.

What will you do then? Shoot them? Starve them? Use poison gas on them and shovel the bodies over with sand?

Isolation is no answer to the problem at all. Not all the homeless were drug addicts when they became homeless. Many were just as sober and upright as you are once.
Some of the homeless are still sober today. They are not all mentally ill either, nor are they all capable of working any more, or incapable of holding down a job if they can find one.

The answers are far more complicated than your simple-minded thoughts. The problems are more complicated than you are willing to consider.

Nonsense. The need for drugs doesn't just come from despair. It also comes from having a lifestyle that's fast paced and a personality trait that puts immediate pleasure over long term stability and happiness.
I've known several drug addicts here in So Cal. My best friend was one but he's been sober for 15 years now. He was Mr. popularity in high school, always the risk taker, always looking for a good time. He had a great loving family a good job, wife, all of it and he threw it all away because he got hooked. It's that simple and it happens to millions of everyday people. He's not mentally ill either and he knew exactly what he was doing.
That's just one person. Another I know is an attorney with lots of money and everything going for him. If he didn't have a large stash of cash put away to fall back on when he lost his job because of his drug abuse, he probably would have ended up just like those other people living in the street. So if you think all or most drug addicts are that way because of despair and poverty you are very wrong.

[jm1982]

Originally Posted by marino760

Nonsense. The need for drugs doesn't just come from despair. It also comes from having a lifestyle that's fast paced and a personality trait that puts immediate pleasure over long term stability and happiness.
I've known several drug addicts here in So Cal. My best friend was one but he's been sober for 15 years now. He was Mr. popularity in high school, always the risk taker, always looking for a good time. He had a great loving family a good job, wife, all of it and he threw it all away because he got hooked. It's that simple and it happens to millions of everyday people. He's not mentally ill either and he knew exactly what he was doing.
That's just one person. Another I know is an attorney with lots of money and everything going for him. If he didn't have a large stash of cash put away to fall back on when he lost his job because of his drug abuse, he probably would have ended up just like those other people living in the street. So if you think all or most drug addicts are that way because of despair and poverty you are very wrong.

True. It’s interesting but of the people I’ve known that have been hard drug users most have been attorneys.

I’ve recently game across some Facebook post of an addict or recovering addict talking about addiction as a disease . I’m not sure if it’s fair to call it a disease . It’s not like cancer or something .

As you mentioned these people had a lot of fun in the beginning and they made the decision to take these drugs . Calling it a disease seems to take the personal responsibility out of the equation .

I’d have more respect for someone that said “I’m an addict and trying to recover “ versus saying they have a disease .

[MPowering1]

Originally Posted by jm1982

True. It’s interesting but of the people I’ve known that have been hard drug users most have been attorneys.

I’ve recently game across some Facebook post of an addict or recovering addict talking about addiction as a disease . I’m not sure if it’s fair to call it a disease . It’s not like cancer or something .

As you mentioned these people had a lot of fun in the beginning and they made the decision to take these drugs . Calling it a disease seems to take the personal responsibility out of the equation .

I’d have more respect for someone that said “I’m an addict and trying to recover “ versus saying they have a disease .

Addiction is considered a disease because the drugs change the brain so the person no longer has control over what they're doing.

The best example I've read is the comparison with someone who is obsessive compulsive and has to turn the light switch on and off 25 times before going to bed. That's no choice - it's a disease. Same with drug addiction.

Drug use is a choice. Drug addiction is a disease.

[omari7]

There is a "Big Elephant in the room" that's being eloquently avoided...sanctuary city policies. What do you expect when cheap labor is flooded into the country on a major scale? There has to be side effects...Why avoid stating the results of Democrats and "the Swamp" Republicans paid to go toward globalism.

The big distraction... being so appalled by what Trump says...he wasn't in office when all of this was going down...CNN stood silent...Hollywood you didn't hear a peep. But all of this fake outrage now ...the paid protests on TV...saying everything is racist? ....that is the distraction the propaganda to continue to confuse the American people. CNN and FAKE news and Hollywood paid to create propaganda to influence the public's opinions.

You didn't see the unemployment, the killings in Chicago, the Gentrification, It will only get worse if the same people who caused the problems are still being paid with public money to enrich themselves and those that pay them to continue the race downwards..."The Rich keep getting richer and the poor keep getting poorer"

The Rich have multiplied their wealth not by working or creating businesses to serve the people...the gains are through speculation on the stock market (it's a numbers came). The corporations also invest in this numbers game...and with the cheap labor they can invest in numbers for profit, instead of productivity, which is what drives jobs.