As a constitutional conservative, my views on drug addiction seem to surprise some of my friends.

Perhaps it stems from experiencing the deep pain of a muscle tear that made even a bathroom trip excruciatingly painful. An opioid painkiller brought some relief but did not remove all of the pain. But it did restore some level of functionality and the ability to sleep.

Therefore, I have a degree of sympathy for those who have chosen to self-medicate for physical or psychic pain. Even those who may have started abusing recreational drugs and fallen into the trap of addiction.

What I cannot excuse, however, are those who profit greatly from the addiction of others.

Not just the drug dealers, but the entire drug infrastructure, including the judicial industry. How do you suppose drugs get into some of the most carefully guarded prisons and jails?

I can’t help but wonder what life would be like if we treated drug use and addiction like the illness it is. Where supplying drugs under supervised conditions eliminated the criminal-judicial symbio that made petty crime unnecessary and eliminated much of the inner-city gang activity linked to drugs.

Not surprising, the pushback would come from the drug dealers and the legal infrastructure they support. From the politicians who direct taxpayer funds to their special interest friends. And even the church whose social programs profit mightily from serving this particular community and fundraising off the issue.

Likewise, the subject of homelessness is primarily a cash cow for the politicians, their special interest friends, and especially the developers who reap near-market prices for substandard properties. Yes, there remains a deep cohort of mentally ill people on the streets, but few treatment facilities. I see the communist mayor of Los Angeles and the progressive pretty-boy Governor of California with their hands out, along with some of their highly-paid political appointees — yet nothing happens.

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot precedes over a drug-riddled shooting gallery in the inner cities but seems to do little other than cry about racial inequities. Will the GOP change this abominable situation if elected to power? I don’t think so. It’s too profitable, personally and professionally, to pay lip service to the issue while diverting taxpayer funds to their special interest friends.

Bottom line…

We are so screwed.

-- Steve

S.F. hoped to mandate treatment for up to 100 more mentally ill homeless people. Years later, no one is in the program

New data shows that a program in San Francisco to mandate more homeless people struggling with addiction and mental illness into treatment has largely failed, pointing to the city’s ongoing struggle to help thousands of people suffering on its streets.

Three and a half years ago, San Francisco started a pilot program to compel more people into treatment who met certain strict criteria. Officials estimated the program could help 50 to 100 people get housing and treatment for six months, but only three individuals entered the program and none remain in it today.

The program — which sunsets at the end of the year —requires that someone has a dual diagnosis of mental illness and substance use disorder and has been placed on at least eight temporary involuntary mental health holds, called 5150s, which send them to a hospital, within a year. The target population was also homeless. People must repeatedly refuse voluntary treatment first. <Source>

BART oversaw $350,000 Salvation Army program that treated one person, audit finds

Multiple reports document alleged wage theft, opaque spending, and a $2.2 million conflict of interest

The Bay Area Rapid Transit Agency funneled hundreds of thousands of dollars into a homeless outreach program run by the Salvation Army that resulted in just one confirmed unsheltered person receiving its services, according to a inspector general report released Friday.

The report is part of a handful of investigations at the transit agency released Friday afternoon, which document allegations of wage theft, opaque spending, and one former BART employee nabbing $2.2 million in contracts from the agency two months after quitting his job.

It is also the BART inspector general’s latest attempt in a years-long battle to audit the agency, which she says repeatedly fought oversight. A civil grand jury report from last year found a “pattern of obstruction” from BART and its major unions. <Source>