Quote:
Originally Posted by blankall
In his defence, I don't think this is really the point of what he was saying. He doesn't comment on why people start drugs. He just says that if you can remain sober and mentally with it, you have a much better chance of taking advantage of social programs.
This could be interpreted a number of ways. You could interpret it to mean that mindlessly throwing money at the problem is ineffective unless you address the issues of addiction/mental illness. Not a statement I disagree with.
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People don't make the decision to become homeless, people who are homeless often times have mental illnesses such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder which in turn lead to the use of illegal drugs in order to self-medicate the symptoms. That isn't even starting to mention the stresses associated with living on the streets without knowing that there is an apartment waiting for them when they decided they were done slumming it for a month. Listen to most any homeless persons or drug addicts story - there is a lot of abuse, often sexual and the situations they were leaving were not much better, in some cases worse, than living on the streets.
The problem of homelessness in no small part stems from the closure of mental health facilities and increased outpatient programs, in which people slip through the cracks and go down a dark path.