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[–] jackfraser ago 

I used to agree, but what happens instead is they congregate in some shitty part of town, which then becomes worse and worse, needles and trash everywhere, etc.

Then you get brave generous stupid souls who want to fix this, and in turn set up various benevolent groups to fund and clean and perpetuate the problem, making it possible for these people to hang on for their next rock, their next dose.

Then eventually you get people clamouring for decriminalizing it because they’re tired of the court system being overwhelmed with useless druggies that we can’t just stuff in jail for some reason (probably too expensive, or the laws on the books aren’t strong enough to put them away for long for minor possession even if they do it again and again).

Then you get a drug Mecca in your city and nothing can be done about it because it’s not even a crime anymore.

Cutting them off will just result in this cycle repeating as long as you still have new generations of good people being born who want to help their neighborhoods. Call it pathological altruism; we want to help. It’s not our fault that the help mechanisms we reach for don’t actually work.

The cycle needs to be broken.

The cycle comes from the desire to not be here, not be sober, not be in pain, not be bored and unhappy. Drugs “fix” that in a visceral and instant way that nothing else can or will. They make existence tolerable for people who otherwise find it intolerable.

Any real solution is going to have to look at alternatives for people like that, since there are clearly millions of them and the problem exists across all races.

Alternate drugs that don’t destroy your life? LSD and MDMA?

Build new city-like mass dwellings specifically for these people, well away from any of us? Coventry?