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Hautebourgeois's avatar

This is a really important piece, Leighton. I hope you'll keep reporting on this story.

As someone who lives in LA, I've definitely noticed not just a huge increase in the number of homeless people on the streets, but also a substantive change in the *kind* of homelessness that's out there. I see people experiencing full psychotic episodes on a daily basis -- to an extent I never saw even at the height of the homeless crisis in NY in the late 80s. It really resembles the crack epidemic.

Some of this has already been attributed to fentanyl and the "new" meth. But it may also be attributed in part to the legalization of weed in CA several years ago and the concomitant rise of dispensaries selling engineered THC products.

While weed enthusiasts are quick to claim "the war on drugs didn't work" -- and they're right -- we have swung to the other extreme, a kind of hands-off libertarianism combined with institutional apathy that Michael Shellenberger has written about.

At some point we're going to need a Scandinavian-type approach to both drugs and alcohol. These items should be decriminalized, but there should be strict controls on their potency and how they're advertised... and they should be heavily taxed to pay for treatment programs. In order for that to happen, the nature of the discourse around marijuana is going to have to change.

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Maria Artemisteria's avatar

Here’s what I know from my own experience: the idea that it’s not addictive cannot be true - I lived with my boyfriend for two years who smoked regularly (his brother grew it, and was his source), and he used it to deal with his combat ptsd and anxiety, yet he was often paranoid and physically abusive. In addition he stole my iPod to pawn for money to buy pot (his brother wasn’t going to just give it to him) and worse, when he was out of money and needed more he pushed me up against the wall in a chokehold when I told him I would use my last $40 to give to him for that. I’m not a hundred percent sure but think he also stole child support money from my purse. He pawned his own guitar, and was living at his mothers house (at age 40) when we met. This does not sound like the choices or behavior of someone who’s not addicted. For a long time I would be triggered simply by the smell of it. I lived in Oregon and found that there were very few who would tolerate my account as proof that maybe the narrative deserved to be questioned.

When someone is willing to steal and assault someone they love to get their fix, it’s an addiction.

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