Homelessness and Addiction

The addiction center estimated that over 50% of all homeless individuals have reported substance abuse of either drugs or Alcohol and over 70% of young homeless individuals are dependent on some sort of substance. Addiction and substance abuse are some of the largest problems this population faces. Addiction not only financially stagnates you but it also reduces motivation and social awareness. This can create a lot of dangerous and unhealthy environments for homeless people.

One idea that I propose is to fight homelessness before the addiction. The vast majority of homeless shelters and homeless programs I have encountered demands that an individual is sober while in the program and if they are found to break this rule, they would be released. While transitioning into these programs is often beneficial for homeless people, they can often be quite stressful and their way of life is completely altered. This can make change remarkably harder as an individual goes through withdrawals. I would propose that we combat homelessness and get the individuals comfortable in their new quality of life and then combat the addiction.

While addiction is a horrible desire that is often incredibly hard to overcome. It is shown that having a purpose in life dramatically raises your chances and getting over an addiction. One of the largest accidental case studies has been the Vietnam war. About 30 percent of Vietnam veterans have reported to abuse hard drugs such as cocaine or heroine in their time overseas. However, when they came back the number of addicted veterans dramatically dropped to only 10%. Most researches attribute this to having a purpose. Many of them returned to family or their jobs, they couldn't afford to be addicted. Obviously, this is extremely simplified and each individual case of addiction is unique. But I feel that an individual is comfortable and stable in their new environment is more likely to be free from addiction than one who is trying to both go through withdrawals and adapt to a new environment.

Vietnam addiction statistics
https://ajph.aphapublications.org/doi/pdf/10.2105/AJPH.64.12_Suppl.38
Addiction Statistics
https://www.addictioncenter.com/addiction/homelessness/

Food For Thought

February 28, 2020,
By: Samantha High

Art: Crystal Chen 

Being without a home is a choice for some, but for many it is not. It is vital that we approach this situation with empathy, regardless of our beliefs towards a person without a home. No matter how stable we believe we are, we could all end up in this situation. We are all one catastrophe away from being homeless. It's easy to approach this situation with disgust or anger because it has become so widespread; we forget that each person contributing to this population is a person with thoughts, feelings, and family. Homeless people need compassion, as they have no where to rest and recharge in the comfort of their own home, which can lead to a slough of other trials and tribulations. What makes us believe a homeless person is less-than? 

Drug use and waste left behind are two problems we actively see, we may see people with mental health issues that may have been prevalent before being on the streets, or may be stemmed from PTSD related to being on the streets. This may lead a lot of people to have negative view points of the homeless as a whole. What is really the issue here? What is contributing to this issue? 

I can think of so many things that are contributing to this issue. There are so many layers that contribute to this catastrophe.

First and foremost, our healthcare system is ranked 27th in the world as of 2018. Doctors are over- prescribing medications and psychotropic drugs. Risks are not properly given to people, even so, the drug is powerful and addiction comes easily. The pharmaceutical industry is one of the most profitable industries in the United States, why wouldn't doctors and pharmacies want to keep pushing out drugs? It keeps them employed. 

Then there is the highly controversial vaccine debate. Why are vaccine manufacturers offering huge incentives to doctors? Billions of dollars are paid out to vaccine injured families and most injuries aren't reported or taken to VEARS. The US has the highest infant mortality rate of any industrialized country, and the highest mandated vaccine schedule for infants. Known to be loaded with toxins, heavy metals, and antigens, the human brain is exposed through the opening of the blood-brain-barrier as well as metals storing in the muscles and tissues. Why are so many veterans or members of the armed forces suffering from side effects after receiving several shots repeatedly? This information is out there and is fact, and scientifically proven no matter where you lie on the vaccine debate. The tolerable amount of ingested metal is far less than the amount that is injected straight into the body in most vaccines. Detoxing from metals can be a long and slow process, sometimes heavy metal toxicity is irreversible and can cause death. We can help the detox process through healthy foods. But what if people don't have access to healthy foods? 

Food deserts, expensive organic fresh foods, cheap fast foods and GMOs, food scarcity, hormone disruptors, pesticides, food preservatives, dyes, heavy metals and other toxins in our food and water, leading to many issues which can lead to imbalances resulting in sickness, disease, behavioral changes, depression, and more. No access to healthy foods means our bodies are less able to repair damage to the cells and DNA. 

Losing a job due to illness, abuse, domestic violence, or lack of resources, such as daycare or transportation. Loss of loved one or not having family members to turn to, as well as our housing market being so high, resulting in wealthier people from out of state moving locals out of their homes...what are people supposed to do when they have nowhere to turn to?

This problem is deeply rooted in our society and this isn't a one solution fix. We must really look at what is happening and take our power back. We need to look at who and what we are voting for and where our tax dollars are being spent. Can we expect honesty from our government? We have tax dollars being spent on so many things elsewhere that are actually not helping our society, especially low income individuals. 

According to Oregon Center for Public Policy, Oregon’s biggest income tax deduction, which is also the state’s biggest housing subsidy, mainly benefits the well-off. "In terms of cost to the state, the Oregon mortgage interest deduction is the biggest tax deduction on the books, costing nearly one billion dollars in the current biennium. At its current level it is also the state’s biggest housing subsidy. This subsidy, however, mainly benefits those who do not need help affording a home. If you divide all Oregon taxpayers into five groups according to income, the highest-earning fifth together collected 61 percent of the subsidy from the mortgage interest deduction in 2011. The bottom two-fifths (the lowest-earning 40 percent of all taxpayers) together received less than 3 percent of the benefits from the subsidy." (https://www.ocpp.org/2016/04/18/blog20160418-key-facts-oregon-taxes)

The homeless problem is multi-faceted and we must really look at this from multiple angles to solve it. An avalanche of issues exist that we must address if we are going to focus on the mental health, overall health, and financial stability of our nation. We need to be asking questions and not putting blinders on. Coming up with real solutions only happens when we are deeply honest with ourselves and with each other.

Solving the Homeless Crisis

What is causing people to become Homeless?

February 27, 2020

By Steve Stieler           

            As home prices continue to ascend, many aspiring buyers are priced out of homeownership or as one study found, priced out of having a home at all. The housing market itself is so overinflated, a $650,000 house has maybe $80,000 of building material in it. So why is my house over-priced and my mortgage payment is $3,500 a month for a house that sits with $80K cost of building it? Perhaps the answer is to redefine the words “affordable housing” by making the existing houses we live in now “affordable”. The DataFace, a San Francisco-based data agency, combed through the pages of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) latest Annual Homeless Assessment Report (AHAR) found that eight of the 10 states with the highest homelessness rates also have the nation’s highest median home price (inman.com). 

            People that are defined as middle-class Americans are struggling to afford the existing houses they are in now, causing migration to happen at an alarming rate. Portland is an example all too familiar lately. Middle-class families are being pushed out of their homes and city, replaced by wealthy people from other large cities, who are being displaced by their over-inflated housing market and then moving here because it’s cheaper, while driving out the people that can only afford the house they have been living in. The city politics being what they are in a demographic like Portland, do not seem to be bothered by this movement because the people that are replacing the middle-class are wealthy people from other states. The city has done their diligence to help fight the homeless situation but, the problem is even bigger than that. What is causing the homeless population? The bad housing market. We should take a stand on the housing market and fix the nationwide housing problem and make the homes we are in now affordable, so we all can have a place to call home. We should all care on this matter, home prices are rising at twice the rate of wage growth. This affects everyone in the workforce and will be a determining factor if you can afford to live in a home or not.

If you want to get involved and care about this crisis, email your State/Congress representative, please go to this link: https://www.candyusa.com/advocacy/communicating-with-congress-an-overview/writing-or-sending-e-mail-to-your-senators-or-representative/

Work cited:

Study on the housing crisis and homelessness:

https://www.inman.com/2018/03/21/rising-home-prices-lead-to-increased-homeless-population-study-finds/

https://www.curbed.com/2019/5/15/18617763/affordable-housing-policy-rent-real-estate-apartment

https://www.economist.com/leaders/2020/01/16/home-ownership-is-the-wests-biggest-economic-policy-mistake

Food Security

In a world of 7.7 billion people where we are still reaping the benefits of the Green Revolution and industrial farming, food security is still a hot topic. This is a luxury some of us enjoy, while others struggle. 42.2 million Americans are food insecure, 13.1 million are children. A few major causes of food insecurity in America are unemployment, high housing costs, low wages, lack of access to SNAP (food stamps), medical/health costs, and domestic violence. There are a million different reasons to end up food insecure or homeless but the important thing is that everyone needs to eat. One difficulty many homeless and others face is getting enough food each day. Luckily in Portland there are some resources. Most shelters offer food services. The Portland Rescue Mission serves breakfast at 7am and dinner at 6 pm 365 days a year. The Transitions Project also serves daily meals at all its shelters. Portland State University also has a Food Pantry Resource and Harvest Share. Most of these shelters also offer beds, bathrooms, showers, clothing, transition programs as well. 

If you’d like to find more information, donate, or volunteer check out these links:

Oregon Food Bank: https://www.oregonfoodbank.org/get-involved/volunteer/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI6bCM2pLw5wIVjNlkCh0WfQHFEAAYASAAEgIeavD_BwE

Portland Rescue Mission: https://www.portlandrescuemission.org/homeless-services/food-shelter-services/

Transitions Projects: https://www.tprojects.org/shelters/

Join: https://joinpdx.org/about/

Written by: Emily Sanders

Works Cited:

1. Unknown Author. “7 Facts About Hunger and Homelessness You Should Know.” Mercy Housing, 23 Jan. 2019, www.mercyhousing.org/2016/11/7-facts-about-hunger-and-homelessness-you-should-know/.

2. Unknown Author. “Hunger and Food Security.” National Coalition for the Homeless, Nov. 2011, www.nationalhomeless.org/factsheets/hunger.html.

The Heartbreaking Link Between Domestic Violence and Homelessness

Domestic violence is the primary cause of homelessness amongst women and children. According to the Family and Youth Services Bureau, 80% of homeless mothers with children previously experienced domestic violence, and around 57% of all homeless women report that domestic violence was the immediate cause of their homelessness. Whether women are fleeing abuse and end up homeless as a result of escape, or end up punished by landlords’ “zero tolerance for violence” policies, where the victim is punished for the crimes of an abuser, the outcome is the same. This position is so difficult and painful for most of us to even imagine, but allow me to explain just how easy it is to find yourself in this situation; from personal experience.

Working as a server, I began seeing a man who moved from his place into mine after several months of dating. Things were going fine and well, and I knew he was a recovered methamphetamine user who had been sober for years. I never imagined it to become an issue or to change who he was. Without my knowing, he was hiding his occasional drug use with one of our neighbors, and I noticed his personality begin to change. I couldn’t understand why, as I had never been around addicts of this kind before, and did not know what to look for. 

He became violent, and turned into a different person, short tempered, jealous, picking fights with others over small things. I was stuck in my apartment with him, in my name and on my credit. I was never safe. Many nights I escaped and called the domestic violence crisis lines, which could only offer me a place to stay in a hotel for a few nights until things “calmed down”. But they never did. He blackened my eye once and when I made an excuse to stay home from work out of humiliation, I lost my job. He broke my spine a few weeks later, tossing me to the floor, and I was unable to work or care for myself. My family was in Georgia, and he had scared off all of my friends and left me completely isolated from my network. 

I was working with the domestic violence shelters, which were all full with a three month wait for new women, and priority was naturally given to women with children. We have 5 domestic violence shelters in Portland, and all were full. This should say a lot. 

Had I been approved for disability (which I was not, in spite of sustaining 4 serious spinal injuries and intense PTSD), I would have only received $750 a month total, not enough to cover my apartment, expenses, etc. My friends were too scared of him to allow me to stay with them because he would simply show up. And I believe it happens just this easily to other women. If had not had the financial support of my incredible family in Georgia, I would have been a homeless woman with PTSD and spinal injuries, just like that. 

One of the most difficult parts of the entire ordeal was the victim blaming I received after the entire nightmare was “over” (I left my apartment on a rainy morning in pajamas to hide from him as he went into the restroom. He went on a hunt the next day to find me at a friend’s home, forced me into the car and ran over one of the three people who were trying to help pull me out of the car...and went to prison on a kidnapping charge). Even people who loved me would say I “got our friend ran over” or would find themselves quicker to ask why I would stay than they were to ask why my former partner would be violent towards me. The truth is that once you are in the situation, it’s scarier to leave and not know what the man may do than to stay and know what you’ll face. When I left was when I was nearly killed. 70% of intimate partner violence victims are killed within 72 hours of leaving their abuser. Shame, the drive to survive and lack of control of finances often lead a woman to stay. 

Women and children deserve so much better than this. Better than to be blamed for being in terrifying, lose-lose situations, better than to have to choose homelessness and risk being harmed on the streets or by their partner at home, better than to suffer long term financial damage and be left to fend for themselves and their children, along with the physical and mental damage sustained by the abuse. I hope that reading this will make you think differently next time you see a homeless woman, and hope you check out some of the links below to better understand what we are dealing with, why, and what you can do to help!

This is an article on how to do better and end these cycles for women and children in this situation, and how to help: https://www.bustle.com/p/as-domestic-violence-awareness-month-comes-to-end-we-need-to-address-why-so-many-survivors-end-up-homeless-how-to-end-the-cycle-2923735

IF YOU, A LOVED ONE OR NEIGHBOR MAY BE IN DANGER:  then PLEASE, this link can help identify signs of abuse and provides immediate assistance to get out, get safe and possibly save lives:
https://www.thehotline.org/is-this-abuse/

And to better understand homeless women and children, check out a few of these links below:

https://www.aclu.org/sites/default/files/pdfs/dvhomelessness032106.pdf

American Civil Liberties Union: Domestic violence and Homelessness

https://www.acf.hhs.gov/fysb/resource/dv-homelessness-stats-2016

Family and Youth Services Bureau: Homelessness and Domestic Violence Statistics(2016)

http://shelterstoshutters.org/the-connection-between-domestic-violence-and-homelessness/

Connection Between Domestic Violence and Homelessness

Supporting the Large Population of Houseless Youth in Beaverton

Beaverton School District has the largest population of houseless minors in the state of Oregon. According to the district, in 2018 they had 1,799 students enrolled in school with no permanent home. This includes any student who doesn't have a permanent residence, and ranges from couch surfing to not having anywhere to sleep but outside. 361 of those students were considered “unaccompanied youth” with no parent or guardian. The McKinney-Vento Act’s Education of Homeless Children and Youth Program ensures that any student in Oregon is provided with appropriate public education regardless of their residential status. The McKinney-Vento Act requires at least one liaison per district to help families in need. The Beaverton School District has three liaisons that already hold other positions within the district.

HomePlate is a nonprofit organization that operates in Beaverton for people between the ages of 12 and 24 that find themselves unable to secure housing. They operate Monday through Thursday and provide essentials such as food, clothing, showers, and laundry. In addition, they provide resources such as housing assistance, employment connections and have information for other social services. According to their website “HomePlate is Washington County's only non-profit provider of drop-in centers and street outreach for young people experiencing homelessness.” Volunteer work and donations are an essential part of what makes the organization work.

HomePlate is an invaluable resource to Beaverton and Washington County at large. Unfortunately, the Portland metro area (Beaverton included) is lacking the resources necessary to support the large population of underage individuals facing homelessness. For all of Washington County, there is only one shelter in Hillsboro that provides an overnight place to stay for minors. This makes the necessity of HomePlate receiving and redistributing donated items such as clothing and blankets all the more necessary. Donating to HomePlate (homeplateyouth.org/donate) is really easy. Their website has details on all of the ways to help out and lists current monthly needs. Their website states that nearly 25% of their income is non-cash, and is essential to the function of their organization. 

By Brody Jones

FOX 12 Staff, “Beaverton School District sees the highest number of homeless teens.” FOX 12 Beaverton, 18 Feb. 2018. https://www.kptv.com/news/beaverton-school-district-sees-the-highest-number-of-homeless-teens/article_d85c69d7-f2ae-5960-a4e3-4e37c043f276.html

“McKinney-Vento Act: Homeless Education Program.” Oregon Department of Education : McKinney-Vento Act: Homeless Education Program : McKinney-Vento Act : State of Oregon, www.oregon.gov/ode/schools-and-districts/grants/ESEA/McKinney-Vento/Pages/default.aspx?fbclid=IwAR09Fj2ciuwB9x7ky11pdpFnbtVoJGcZBLDROxNKchb_21aFJC44EDzMgOU.

Vespa, Maggie and Jared Cowley, “Beaverton bans homeless camping on city streets.” KGW8, 13 June 2018. https://www.kgw.com/article/news/local/homeless/beaverton-bans-homeless-camping-on-city-streets/283-564092315

Where do I go? Problems with Prisoner Reintegration.

Though the United States is about 4% of the world’s population, we hold around 25% of the worlds prison population. The US prison population has exploded since the Reagan Administration, with a 700% increase from 1970 to 2003. According to The National Employment Law Project, one-in-four US adults currently have some sort of criminal record [1]. Mandatory Minimum Sentencing Laws, the three strikes law, The War on Drugs, Racialization, prison privatization, and crummy politics have all been major contributing factors for our prison overpopulation. Understanding the growing prison population in the US is a formidable undertaking by itself. But, could it be directly tied to our growing homeless population? 

There are around five million ex-prisoners living in the United States, and they are nearly 10 times more likely to be homeless then the general public. The California Department of Corrections stated that around 30 to 50 percent of the state’s parolees in major urban areas are homeless [2]. According to a 1996 HUD study, 49 percent of homeless adults have reportedly spent five or more days in a city or county jail over their lifetimes. Prisoner and felons are often treated as second class citizens, if citizens at all. We have adopted public policies that prevent prisoners from being able to successfully adapt back to society. Several legal and social barriers to reintegration hinder prisoners from finding a permanent roof over their head, and establishing themselves back in the general public. Felons are generally not allowed access to affordable housing. It becomes near impossible to access welfare, veteran’s benefits, education, and most especially, employment as an ex-convict. We have created a social environment that is unquestionably inhospitable for released prisoners.

So, do I have a correctional plan of action in mind? Not particularly. There has been growing investment in federally subsidized housing and transitional housing for ex-convicts, but that’s just putting a band aide on a larger wound. I think our treatment of convicts is closer to the source of the problem. I feel there is a growing awareness and disdain for our gargantuan prison population. Successful reintegration requires experimentation, collaboration, and funding. There needs to be a complete overhaul with our prison industrial complex, and we need to systematically asses policies and practices that shed light on how and how much we need to invest in our transitioning population.

-Isaac Pea

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x

[1] Rodriguez, M., & Emsellem, M. (2011). 65 MILLION “NEED NOT APPLY” The Case for Reforming Criminal Background Checks for Employment. The National Employment Law Project.

[2] California Department of Corrections, Prevention Parolee Failure Program: An Evaluation (Sacramento, CA: California Department of Corrections, 1997).

How Housing Comes First in Finland

Finland is a California sized country squeezed between Russia and Norway. 5.5 million people reside in this Nordic country. Only 5,500 of them are homeless.

And even that number is declining. Since 2008, Finland has implemented a forward thinking homeless initiative known as Housing First. “The housing first model is quite simple: when people are homeless, you give them housing first – a stable home, rather than progressing them through several levels of temporary and transitional accommodation. The idea stems from the belief that people who are homeless need a home, and other issues that may cause them to be at risk of homelessness can be addressed once they are in stable housing. Homeless people aren’t told they must conquer their addictions or secure a job before being given a home: instead it is accepted that having a home can make solving health and social problems much easier” Kaakinen, J. (2016, September 14). Lessons From Finland: helping homeless people starts with giving them homes. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/housing-network/2016/sep/14/lessons-from-finland-helping-homeless-housing-model-homes. This is a logical approach as there have been numerous studies on human behavior in the midsts of scarcity and how it contributes to poor decision making, lack of planning, and low rationality. When you don’t need to worry about what to eat or where to go to the bathroom you create space for potential healing. This is a concept that can start at the level of homeless and spread throughout society to encourage more open and thought out decision making and implementation.

Housing First is a decisive action against a nationwide crisis. Finland spent 250 million Euros (about $3 million) in procuring living arrangements and workers to maintain the operation. This is relatively cheap in the long run. The savings Finland has seen in “emergency healthcare, social services, and the justice system” Berdnyk, L. (2020, January 29). Why There Are No Homeless People On The Streets in Finland. Retrieved from

https://swedesinthestates.com/why-there-are-no-homeless-people-on-the-streets-in-finland/.

 comes to15,000 Euros per year (about $16,000); having long paid for itself since 2008! In addition, Housing First has changed the stigma of homelessness from the general public of Finland. The takeaway here isn’t necessarily a blueprint on how to solve our homeless crisis here in the U.S (and specifically in Portland). What matters is the forward initiative from the government on following through and solving a problem. In other words, effectively doing what you say you are going to do. 

We the people need to demand outcomes like this as a collective and not settle for anything less. Replicas of Housing First have been implemented in the Netherlands, Italy, France, Belgium, Denmark, Norway, Spain, England, Sweden, and Ireland. All with positive outcomes. So, what is the U.S doing?

Anna Ross

Links for Further Reading!

Housing First Europe

Lessons From Finland

No Homeless People On The Street of Finland

The Psychology of Scarcity

Trauma

Trauma
 Tom Richardson

What is Trauma? Trauma could be looked at as a deeply disturbing event that happened in someone’s life, which leads to emotional and physical long-term damage. Today Trauma is one of the main reasons for many people’s mental health and can be very undervalued by how much of one event can make on someone’s life. 

When seeing homeless people in our society, many people will do one or two things? They might not acknowledge them, they might see them and walk past, or maybe just an occasionally stop and interact with the homeless. But I don’t believe many people ask themselves how they got themselves in that position? Were they always in that position was itself infliction on their part? Or was it a traumatic event put of their hands that led them there? 

Homelessness is caused by the interaction of structural problems at the macro level such as the lack of affordable housing or long-term unemployment and individual causes such as debt, family breakdown, or poor health. Many people experience this daily; however, it might just never get to the point where they become homeless. Therefore, sometimes there’s not much different than the extent of a problem that causes someone to be homeless or not.

According to https://nhchc.org/, there are many components to trauma, starting with:

-         - Feelings of lack of control, terror, and helplessness

-         - Threat to one’s physical or mental health through violence

-         - The brain responding to flight or flight mode

Trauma works to protect us and teaches us how to respond to danger. But if the traumatic situation never stops, those responses can change the way the brain works, causing heightened sensitivity and increased alarms.

Here’s some information on homelessness and which places are most affected by it. 


https://endhomelessness.org/homelessness-in-america/homelessness-statistics/state-of-homelessness-report/oregon/

Homeless Pets and their Owners

Pets, we love and cherish them. They are with us through the good and bad. About 68 percent of Americans have pets, between 5-10% of homeless in the United States are pet owners. There is a stigma that homeless pet owners aren’t taking care of their pets. Most on a daily basis are told they shouldn’t have a pet or they’re a horrible person for having a pet while being homeless. When in reality they are taking better care of their pets than some with homes. 

Many owners struggling with mental, emotional, and other health issues get a positive relationship out of caring for their pet on the street. Homeless pet owners love their pets often saying “my pet eats first”. There are many resources available to homeless pet owners that offer free clinics, spay and neuter, vet check ups, prescriptions, vaccinations, food, and licensing. 

If you are interested in volunteering or donating please check out these websites:

• https://www.petsofthehomeless.org/about-us/
• https://www.pawteam.org/

Written by Emily Sanders

Works Cited:Irvine, Leslie, et al. “Confrontations and Donations: Encounters between Homeless Pet Owners and the Public.” The Sociological Quarterly, vol. 53, no. 1, 2012, pp. 25–43.Slatter, Jessica, et al. "Homelessness and companion animals: more than just a pet?" British Journal of Occupational Therapy, vol. 75, no. 8, 2012, p. 377+. Gale OneFile: Health and Medicine.Pires, Candice. “Homeless People on Their Pets: 'She Saved Me as Much as I Saved Her'.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 16 June 2018.

Homelessness and the Opiate Crisis

One of the most devastating impacts on the homeless community is the opioid crisis. About one in three homeless individuals experience substance abuse, with a large number coming from opioids that are injected. In a survey in 2014, 48% of homeless individuals reported that substance abuse was the main reason they were homeless, followed by 44% saying mental illness contributed to their homelessness  Injection of opioids and other substances can be very dangerous for a variety of reasons. First, it’s easier to overdose on injected opiates since they hit the bloodstream quicker than drugs that are orally ingested. Second, sharing used needles can spread diseases like Hepatitis C, or HIV. Third, inserting needles incorrectly into the vein can cause damage to the vein, as well as nerve damage.  

The opiate crisis is largely responsible for the growing homeless population . We know that we have a problem in America, but nobody wants to talk about how to solve it, especially because this solution is not a simple one, and it’s passionately disputed by people who don’t understand it.

One of the most successful solutions overseas for combating addiction in homeless communities (which in turn can help the homeless overcome a large obstacle of them being homeless), is legal and safe injection sites. At these sites, an individual can bring in an illegal substance, and be assisted in a warm and friendly environment by trained nurses and doctors, to inject their drug of choice. This may seem shocking to a lot of people, or sound ethically wrong, but the statistics on prevention of overdose and death, as well as these individuals getting drug treatment, are astounding. 

Many people who are welcomed into a safe environment, which is non-judgmental about their drug addiction, tend to open up about it. They do not die from their drug addiction, because the drug is administered safely, and nurses have substances such as Narcan to reverse an overdose. They also receive sanitary needles, which greatly reduces the spread of HIV. These facilities have drug treatment programs, and the people who use these legal injection sites are free to choose to join a program when they are ready. And they usually become ready at some point.

Access to safer environments and medical assistance encourages long-time addicts to join rehabilitation programs.

Having access to legal injection sites reduces death, disease, and increases the likelihood of one getting drug treatment (which could in turn assist an individual to be able to maintain a home life). The opposition suggests  that these injection sites encourage illicit drug use, but the numbers don’t lie. The rate of people going into drug treatment programs are much higher in areas where there are accessible injection sites. Individuals will do drugs regardless of circumstances, and it is up to us to make sure that they can do them safe, and have an option to get help if they desire. Encouraging the U.S law to allow these injection sites is crucial to drug treatment, and lowering the homeless population. People with drug addictions deserve compassion, regardless of how their situation started. Education, warmth, and legalizing professional injection sites will reduce our homeless population, and the opioid crisis.

Written by Denali (Danny) Hall

Citations

Zezima, K. (2017, January 27). Awash in overdoses, Seattle creates safe sites for addicts to inject illegal drugs. Retrieved January 31, 2020, from https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/awash-in-overdoses-seattle-creates-safe-sites-for-addicts-to-inject-illegal-drugs/2017/01/27/ddc58842-e415-11e6-ba11-63c4b4fb5a63_story.html

NewsHour, P. B. S. (2014, April 13). Retrieved January 31, 2020, from https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/facility-works-curb-spread-h-v-among-intravenous-drug-users

Sawbuck Productions, Inc. (2020, January 31). Retrieved January 31, 2020, from https://vimeo.com/140074355

Starecheski, L. (2014, December 29). Teaching Friends And Family How To Reverse A Drug Overdose. Retrieved January 31, 2020, from https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2014/12/29/371770229/teaching-friends-and-family-how-to-reverse-a-drug-overdose

Kuhn, C., Swartzwelder, S., & Wilson, W. (n.d.). Chapter 9; Opiates. In Buzzed: The Straight Facts About the Most Used and Abused Drugs from Alcohol to Ecstasy (4th ed., pp. 221–242). New York & London: W.W. Norton & Company.

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