Maybe you can settle a debate I sometimes have with other recreational drug users: cocaine, unlike say heroin/alcohol/tobacco/McDonald's is not a physically addictive substance. T or F? It's not something you enter into physical withdrawal when coming off of cocaine--the addiction to cocaine is primarily or even exclusively psychological?

Chicago comedian John Mulaney's been doing a lot of material based on his decades long cocaine habit; that he in the last few years dealt with an intervention and went into rehab. He has a bit where he talks about rolling up to rehab with a baggie of Adderall (legal cocaine), a grip of zannies (peanut butter to cocaine's chocolate), a few thousand in cash and an eight-ball--at least he had 3+ grams of cocaine on him when he left the house to go to rehab. After railing lines off his dashboard and off the Koala Kare diaper changing station in a gas station men's room (glad I'm not the only one), the cocaine was mostly gone as he walked into the rehab facility.

Homelessness is way more complex than the simple and convenient fables you hear from politicians. There is in fact a significant portion of the local homeless population that is homeless purely by choice, they simply do not want to adhere to any rules or regulations, they have a hidden, but sizable group of likeminded people they are happy to live amongst, the culture has its own rules and seasons, these folks have not interest in rejoining any recognized society.

Addicts are also complex, there are people that have suffered unimaginable traumas who cannot get by without chemical support,

but there are also people that simply know or fit into any other peer group, once you get into the scene it is hard to get out, you've spend years using and your entire peer group uses, your really not employable, so you just keep doing what you are doing. Addicts have to want to stop and seek treatment, most of the people I encounter that beat addiction have a reason beyond themselves to stop, usually for their kids.

McDonald's is designed to be addictive. They have chemists developing their food and ice cream. It's not just msg that keeps you coming back.

Remember in The Wire the chief of police opened up drug free zones and it benefited the community where it lowered violence and drive by's by a significant amount and all the drug dealers had their own 3/4 square blocks to do their shit.

I know it was fiction but why doesn't the real world do this? it was genius. Always thought this would work in a real world scenario.

You could just open free zones in cities where anything goes, of course there would be no services in those areas so if you overdose nobody is racing in with narcan to save your life, you could have a meat wagon roll through each day to pick up the dead bodies...it could work.

You could just open free zones in cities where anything goes, of course there would be no services in those areas so if you overdose nobody is racing in with narcan to save your life, you could have a meat wagon roll through each day to pick up the dead bodies...it could work.

Do you think they grew up with the goal of being homeless that look like zombies with their only coping mechanism being the cheapest and most dangerous drugs available or this is something they decided after college that they wanted that life?

Only ignorant people would think that. MANY addicts would give anything to overcome their addiction.

Treat addicts and mentally ill patients every shift at work.

The issue is complex and unique because humans are complex and unique, but after working with these populations for over a decade there are a few things you notice.

People that abuse drugs do not tend to live long healthy lives and will appear as we say, "older than their stated age", it's fun when your young, but you destroy yourself and your cardiovascular system and brain are stressed frequently, which ages you at a much more rapid rate.

Wealthy people are able to pay for better care, so they will outwardly appear to have it together, but they rapidly will go into withdrawal, they of course, do not admit to abusing substances like a homeless guy, but the symptoms betray them.

Homelessness is way more complex than the simple and convenient fables you hear from politicians. There is in fact a significant portion of the local homeless population that is homeless purely by choice, they simply do not want to adhere to any rules or regulations, they have a hidden, but sizable group of likeminded people they are happy to live amongst, the culture has its own rules and seasons, these folks have not interest in rejoining any recognized society.

Addicts are also complex, there are people that have suffered unimaginable traumas who cannot get by without chemical support, but there are also people that simply know or fit into any other peer group, once you get into the scene it is hard to get out, you've spend years using and your entire peer group uses, your really not employable, so you just keep doing what you are doing. Addicts have to want to stop and seek treatment, most of the people I encounter that beat addiction have a reason beyond themselves to stop, usually for their kids.

Minorities suffer more because they come from a culture that does not trust the medical establishment and due to the almost epidemic level of diabetes and hypertension that exists in minority populations, especially African Americans, this is well known, but nobody talks about it, or seems to have any interest in addressing it, saw the manifestations during COVID and I talked about it then, but do not see any effort to address this issue.

McDonald's is designed to be addictive. They have chemists developing their food and ice cream. It's not just msg that keeps you coming back.

I feel like their iced coffee is objectively bad , but I still will get it occasionally.

The victims are the American People and the Republic itself.

you don't even need a sarcasm tag for that one. one theory i read about the lifecycle of drug epidemics sorta analogized them to viral epidemics--over time, the killing off of the hosts (current addicts) and preventative/avoidance measures taken by the unaffected causes the epidemic to peter out. History of drug epidemics in the USA doesn't begin with post-Vietnam heroin-->80's cocaine-->crack-->MDMA-->meth-->pharmies (oxy)-->street H-->fentanyl/meth today ... it goes back pre-Civil War and before


the author the viral theory of drug epidemics was primarily concerned with explaining the end of crack by pointing to factors other than heightened legal penalties/interdiction: younger generations see the toll the drugs take on their parents/older relatives and shun the substances, along with the older generation either dying off or getting locked up. But it seems like the Oxy-->street heroin-->fentaynl arc is either not following the pattern or it's separate arcs daisy-chained together. Cuz the body count keeps rising.

It is interesting to look at the per 100K death rate--even at the height of the crack epidemic in the 1980's into the early 90's it never exceeds prior records and is laughably small compared to today's numbers. Partly that might be due to better reporting now vs then. The big uptick occurs in the late 1990's--Purdue Pharma introduced Oxycontin on the market right around then. The next big jump is 2015-2016, when fentanyl hit the US streets in a broader way than folks slicing open cancer patient fentanyl patches.

I think that addiction happens for a lot of different reasons. It has many different stories and backgrounds for each addict and homeless person that is out there. Unfortunately there is no easy answer for it nor a one way to fight it. I know this, addiction is likely to ruin civilized society because there is no tough love solutions to it that will ever be done because no one on the left will agree to any of it. Trying to "reason" with an addicted person is a no-win situation. I'm not saying that it is hopeless but unless a family member or a really good friend takes over the problem with tough love the addict will continue to kill themselves with drugs. ANd in the meantime, more and more victims will be rolled up by the addicts themselves as the victims of their crimes occur.

As for your question about the goal of being homeless. No, I do not believe that most people that end up on the street wanted originally to be there. But I do believe that they were led there by their refusal many times to deal with reality and make responsible decisions and resort to major drugs to escape from reality. And we have made drug use a harmless drug even to the poitn of making all drugs legal in many people's mind. Life is hard. Being successful is harder and there is some luck involved. But generally those who get addicted give up trying way too early and once you start on that road it easier to stay on it than it is to turn around and there are way too many people that are not looking out for your best interest but rather their own.

[Fields will] be the starting QB on an NFL roster at the start of next season. Book It!

There will never be an effective vaccine. I'll never get one anyway.

I KNOW a guy who became a HOMLESS drug addict after BED BATH and BEYOND closed because of My Pillow sales faltering!

Recommend anyone else's?

I drink Stok at home, but can't find anything else nearly as good.

After doing imaginary HVAC work at the Target?

[Fields will] be the starting QB on an NFL roster at the start of next season. Book It!

There will never be an effective vaccine. I'll never get one anyway.

This is a lot different than your idea that the homeless drug addicts want to be homeless drug addicts.

After doing imaginary HVAC work at the Target?

It is true that a majority of the homeless living on the street are people who are addicts who do not want to stop living on the street nor quit using hard drugs. You ought to travel and witness the reality of drug use in the major cities in the US.

Everyday, a felony attack occurs in drug infested cities which will result in a death due to lethal drugs being used or people attacked and possibly murdered because of their use.

[Fields will] be the starting QB on an NFL roster at the start of next season. Book It!

There will never be an effective vaccine. I'll never get one anyway.

Imaginary work, but REAL dildo and vibrator purchases!