A new care center for homeless people on Los Angeles' infamous Skid Row embraces the principle of harm reduction, a more lenient approach to drug use and addiction.
I used to know three homeless people whom I used to talk to on my way home from work. I gave them cash, bought them food. I have no idea if they are still alive today. I know of at least seven more whom I occasionally keep in touch with. And some more who have been homeless previously, but who have survived that through various feats and means and landed on their feet again. Sleeping rough in Sweden, above Skåne, is fucking rough.
Out of my limited and anecdotal experience, I don’t blame a single one of them for getting hooked on drugs. Alcohol got too expensive, tobacco is waaaay too expensive for effect, so the high and low that other drugs could give kept them warm throughout the roughest nights and/or John experiences.
I used to know three homeless people whom I used to talk to on my way home from work. I gave them cash, bought them food. I have no idea if they are still alive today. I know of at least seven more whom I occasionally keep in touch with. And some more who have been homeless previously, but who have survived that through various feats and means and landed on their feet again. Sleeping rough in Sweden, above Skåne, is fucking rough.
Out of my limited and anecdotal experience, I don’t blame a single one of them for getting hooked on drugs. Alcohol got too expensive, tobacco is waaaay too expensive for effect, so the high and low that other drugs could give kept them warm throughout the roughest nights and/or John experiences.