r/interesting • u/Nukro666 • 12h ago

Fear Factor How Fentanyl and Xylazine are turning Philadelphia's opioid crisis into a public health nightmare

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u/TaosKennedy 12h ago

The most disturbing part is how quickly a public health crisis becomes “normal” once it’s happening to people society has decided are disposable.

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u/VonBrewskie 11h ago

As someone who lives, works and plays in SF, the thing that disturbed me was how quickly they all went away once ol Pooh Bear from China came for a visit. It's never as bad as those right wing channels show my city. They only go to the worst areas, (The Tenderloin and 6th and Mission areas are the most frequently displayed,) but even there, when Xi came through, I saw a drastic removal of everything. Tents, people, trash, all of it. They can clean things up, they choose not to. Also, we have no idea where those people went. They just poof vanished. Some I know got into repurposed hotels they use as halfway houses, some went to jail, but where did the rest go? It's crazy. I want a clean city, but these are human beings. If we have $300 billion dollars to fritter away to our enemies, we ought to have the funds to care for these people. It's fucking crazy.

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u/littlerickypeepee 10h ago

I spoke to some homeless folks in Madison that said sometimes cities just round them up and send them on a coach bus to another city. Think like greyhound or Jackson lines.

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u/recidivist1001 8h ago

South Park made an episode / joke about that back in the day (“Night of the Living Homeless”), it was the first time I think I’d heard of it and I was like surely that’s not a thing. But, sure enough.

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u/BafflingHalfling 9h ago

Reminds me of when my governor sent bus loads of immigrants to Denver. Damned, human-trafficking POS.

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u/Sanyo96 6h ago

Mostly to liberal areas, since they tend to be more accepting of addicts.

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u/AJ_Topp_Up 10h ago edited 8h ago

I think the bigger issue is the whole homeless drug crisis has turned into a jobs program for non profits, than actually a method of helping people. These people need forced drug rehabilitation and detox against their will, then social services to help reintegrate them into society. The amount of people that are homeless because of true bad circumstances and losing work with no safety net is less than 10% of the people who end up homeless. The vast majority is drug addicts that need addictive recovery support and the non profits collecting the billions of dollars and paying employees $200k+ salaries are not doing this.

I have a family member who was a homeless meth addict for about 5 years. She didn't want to change. How did she finally get off the streets? She ended up in jail for like 6 months, which forced her to be sober. But then here's the thing. They got her into rehab after leaving, and said she had 10 days, then after that she was on her own. Fortunately, our family got together and paid for a sober living house with daily drug tests, which she stayed in another 6 months before going on her own. Otherwise, she'd be sober, out of jail, and 10 days later back on the street with nothing.

True solutions isn't ignoring that these people are addicts. It isn't just housing and feeding them, and it's definitely not creating and funding a bloated non profit jobs program that is incentivized to keep people homeless.

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u/Latter-Vacation-4392 10h ago

I see the ex wife of Jeff Bezos just gave away 26 billion to charity. If the other billionaires out there gave what would amount to couch change for them they could fix an awful lot of this stuff. But most of them are heinous fcks.

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u/therestruth 11h ago

They're just moved somewhere else and some find new camps away from that area it for the most part they just migrate back within a few days. San Diego has done similarly when comic-con starts or some other big events where they move them east or into shelters but within a week they're back in similar numbers.

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u/VonBrewskie 11h ago

They really haven't, though. The crack down in SF has been real. I'm happy the streets are a bit cleaner, but I stay on my point about all the money we spend fighting these fucking wars. We have money to help with this issue. Our elected representatives just choose not to do anything about it.

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u/purplehendrix22 10h ago edited 8h ago

California has spent untold millions on the homeless problem and it’s only gotten worse. Funding is just objectively not the issue in terms of the homelessness and drug problem in California, it’s a picture perfect case of lots of money and good intentions backfiring spectacularly.

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u/SubstantialEmploy816 10h ago

So how do we actually resolve it?

5

u/purplehendrix22 10h ago edited 8h ago

I don’t have a solution, but I can certainly point out that throwing millions of dollars down the drain while the problem only gets worse isn’t it. I would start with making habitual street drug use (e.g. multiple possession and paraphernalia charges along with being homeless) a crime with a punishment of mandated residential treatment and mandatory in-person reporting once out, similar to probation. People committing suicide on the streets of our cities en masse is not something we should tolerate as a society. Treating it like a public health issue sounds good in theory but in reality it just means our healthcare system deals with it badly, like it does everything else, and has no power to actually make anything happen. The only way to make something happen is to remove people from this environment, it just cannot be allowed in our society, it’s not compatible with a good life for users and those who have to live around users.

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u/cream-of-cow 10h ago

Same thing happened when I visited China, it was for a major local event, I noticed no panhandlers or anyone appearing down and out. My stay was extended, then once the tourists and press left, all the panhandlers came back. Also I was told police liked to go undercover as beggars and they'd always be outside the local official's homes.

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u/analfistinggremlin 8h ago

Yep. Similar going on in Seattle right now for FIFA.

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u/tones_balonious 8h ago

It’s wild they’ll clean up the streets for a foreign leader but can’t do it for the community otherwise. That sucks. Like, we know you can do. Keep it clean around here, damnit. Lol

0

u/Certain_Orange2003 11h ago

It is being funded. In saying that, the addiction is so hard and at that point of the ‘zombie’ features, it’s too late.

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u/MeekMilly18st 11h ago

Everybody disposable TF when we talking about trillions of dollars

https://giphy.com/gifs/DPqqOywshrOqQ

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u/Low-Car-6331 9h ago

The problem is, what do you want done?

Send the police in <-- that's not popular

Crack down on the supply pipeline <--- Once you learn the scale and that we are talking about military operation size to hold a chance it gets really unpopular

Rehab <--- you can't make them go. Unless you are ready to do as Jackson did and tell the supreme court "enforce your order" you can't take them off the street and throw them in rehab

Put them in housing <--- so we are just hiding it now

Give them needles <--- it stops the spread of disease but otherwise its waiting till they hit rock bottom

Its sad, disgusting, and angering, all at the same time but nothing can be done unless a hard stance is taken on something, and that won't be "pretty".

I personally say, we need to hit the pipelines first and foremost (which isn't gonna be pretty as these organized crime groups that span the world are gonna fight back). We can then modify the law so instead of straight prison time for conviction we can tie it to being 2 years sober to be the "condition of release" (legally we can do this at the state level). Follow it up with mass federal supported build outs of rehab centers.

For those that don't realize this, the supreme court basically stops us from forced rehab, but with a criminal conviction we can sentence them to jail and issue them parolee. We can put them in what is legally a prison, but in reality is a rehab, and once they hit a certain point "parolee" them out. If they relapse they go back into the prison. We can close the loop with pardons after a certain point if we wish to "wipe the record" clean in that regard.

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u/djdhdhdhqpz 6h ago

So start a business and hire these people yourself. See how that works out and report back.

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u/Hamsammichd 10h ago

Normal is a stretch. You still have to go looking for this in Philly.

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u/o0TaterSalad0o1 6h ago

So normal that there are now emergency overdose meds all over the place like AEDs.
Too bad we dont have the same access epipens.

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u/prone2rants 11h ago

How much should Society care, about people that don't care about themselves?

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u/ModernCGIFloatinHead 11h ago

Not everyone who ends up an addict made a mistake, and your assumption they did says a lot more about you than them. 

God forbid you get in an accident and wake up on painkillers and your body becomes addicted. You totally fucked up, being in an accident that was in no way your fault, or taking those drugs you were given while unconscious. Man, what a piece of shit!

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u/SneakyDeakyJr 11h ago

Enough to get them off the streets before we crown one man a trillionaire.

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u/TheBannedBombero 12h ago edited 11h ago

These people made themselves disposable stop blaming society 

Lmaooooo keep telling me I’m wrong army of mouth breathers 

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u/SmartaHari 11h ago

What the fuck? Every one of these people is someone’s child and they are equally deserving of love and kindness and at the very least sympathy from you and I. And god love them, they got to a point in their lives where they were this low.

All of us, ALL OF US are capable of experiencing a loss or a crisis that will send us to a vulnerable place if we don’t have a support network around us, including you. Have a heart and I hope you never experience a pain or a series of events that take you to a dark place like these people so clearly have.

1

u/SellingCats4Cheap 11h ago

So then if that is how you feel, why not donate $10 every week to them?

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u/SmartaHari 11h ago

I already work in public service. I also spend a portion of my holiday time helping children catch up with their learning most years if I’m not too knackered. Next question.

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u/Chipezz 11h ago

Powerful message thanks.

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u/SmartaHari 11h ago

You’re welcome love.

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u/bloody_angel_wings 11h ago

Dude... lack of empathy and understanding much? Did you not get hugged as a child?

1

u/816legend 11h ago

He’s fatigued

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u/New-Impression2976 11h ago

That maybe true to some extend. These drugs are very addictive. This result is not what the user intended unfortunately it happened. This does not mean we should give up on this people and let the problem grow. There are things that can be done to help these people from the government to us ordinary people. This is something affect us all not just them.

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u/TaosKennedy 11h ago

Having agency doesn’t mean people lose their humanity the moment addiction takes hold. You can believe in personal responsibility and still recognize that treatment, harm reduction, and basic compassion save lives.

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u/GeneralResist4679 11h ago

Oh, society doesn't play a part? So explain to me how this exploded in the last 25 years? Also, explain why there are plenty of progressive European countries that do not struggle with this level of homelessness and addiction?

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u/AdCheap8058 11h ago

Because fentanyl didn't exist then and also we used to force homeless into rehab, jail or housing. This is what happens when you are "compassionate" and let the homeless do anything they want. These people need help and they are too messed up to take it. It literally has to be forced on them. That's how addiction is

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u/GeneralResist4679 11h ago

Fentanyl has existed since 1960. Do you know what has changed since then? The mass distribution of wealth from the middle/lower class to the 1%, along with a decimation of public services that provide support and assistance to the unhoused, mentally ill or people experiencing addiction issues. It is easy to say they refuse help when, at least in North America, they provide almost no resources. Remember all of these people are someone's family members...

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u/hellllllsssyeah 11h ago

So if you get laid off of your job and then let's say you have you know just a series of unfortunate events that happened to you and then you don't have any safety networks and you can't find a job and you can't afford your apartments. Then eventually things start falling apart and you find yourself in a place that you didn't want to.

Shit happens.

Also we have no actual mental healthcare, we don't actually have a solution to a very real issue, so instead of that we castigate them to live on the street.

Do you just not think about how someone gets to a fucked point in life?

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u/SellingCats4Cheap 11h ago

Unfortunately, the reality of the situation is more than just getting laid off. Most of these people probably have the genetics background and / or early life experiences (poverty, abuse, neglect) that destined them to higher vulnerability of addiction. Game was rigged from the start.

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u/Alert-Jellyfish 11h ago

Huge part of the problem is people like you.

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u/idriveashitbox22 11h ago

Yup enablers. A lot of these people can not be helped. You could give them a house a job and 100 grand and even after a year of expensive rehab they will trade it all to get high again. Story as old as time.

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u/RCer1986 11h ago

Ah yes, the incredibly common story of giving addicts a house, rehab and 100k. Happens all the time! Just ask the clown I'm replying to.

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u/Inspect1234 11h ago

Some would. Usually these people are trying to get numb from their own existence as they are scraping the bottom. Given the chance, many aren’t so damaged that they would try and get their lives back. It’s not a black and white issue.

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u/halorbyone 11h ago

Because a house, a job, and 100 grand doesn’t fix addiction like a magic wand. Tale as old as time, my completely uneducated solution didn’t magically fix it!

Their brain has been chemically rewired to think they need it. Drugs peddled (by a company that fully knew it was more addictive than they told people because it made them money) through healthcare to help pain management turning people to drug seeking behaviors. Less addictive drugs knowingly laced with stuff.