Fifi Lamoura on Nostr: Yes and forcing people into treatment is cruel and ineffective. The drumbeat coming ...

Yes and forcing people into treatment is cruel and ineffective. The drumbeat coming out of Alberta and San Francisco to use forced treatment/confinement as a means to "clean up the streets" is atrocious, cruel and ignores the real reasons why people are homeless and how homelessness drives addiction. Housing people and providing social support so they can choose treatment when they feel safe and ready is crucial.

You can't force people out of addiction, just like most people who try to white knuckle their way to quitting a specific drug rather than untangling the reasons why they use drugs just transfer their addiction to something else (sometimes less harmful, sometimes not!) and are primed for a relapse at some point. It's really not irrational to use drugs to escape reality if your reality is atrociously unkind, uncomfortable and unbearable.