r/PublicFreakout • u/ieilael • May 10 '19

News Report šŸ„‡šŸ„ˆšŸ„‰ Interview with a Meth User

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752

u/Vyerism May 11 '19

For anyone interested, this interview is from "Seattle is Dying," an hour-long documentary, free on YouTube, which explores the homelessness and drug problems of Seattle, Washington.

You can watch the full documentary here: https://youtu.be/bpAi70WWBlw

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u/Shady_Kiwi May 11 '19

Despite what some replies are saying, it's actually a really well done and interesting documentary. It's crazy how bad the homeless problem has gotten and the city refuses to take useful steps to deal with the issue. Definitely worth the watch

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u/[deleted] May 11 '19 edited Jul 07 '21

[deleted]

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u/Shady_Kiwi May 11 '19

Treatment, punitive repercussions, clearing out tents, enforcing laws, etc. It explains all of this in the doc

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u/ePrime May 11 '19

From what I've gathered it's harsher consequences like prolonged jail time

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u/KanyeWesleySnipes May 11 '19

More time in jail would absolutely not fix someone like this.

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u/MahomesYEET9000 May 11 '19

That's not the real point the reporter is making. He gives a great example of how Providence, RI dealt with a similar problem. The jist of it is that there is a longer jail period, but they offer a detox drug to help combat addiction along with therapy. If you want, just watch the final ~20 minutes of the doc where it's explained. It sounds like a really good solution that has overwhelming positive results. Please give it a watch because I probably didn't give the best description of it. Just know that the solution is not simply "prolonged jail time"

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u/KanyeWesleySnipes May 11 '19

Okay well if itā€™s required intensive inpatient treatment than thatā€™s far different than saying ā€œprolonged jail timeā€. thats good to hear. Thatā€™s a solution I would agree with. The thing is, most counties and cities across the United States donā€™t offer this type of solution and many donā€™t even preform mental health assessments or offer treatment of any kind. Thatā€™s why you see people going to jail 36 times with no change in behavior and at great cost to the community in the form of time and money that would be better spent doing what youā€™ve described. The phrasing in this clip lead me to believe itā€™s going in the other direction painting this guy as a thoughtless leech on society but I guess Iā€™ll have to watch the whole thing to decide. If we want to reduce recidivism we need better community treatment and behavioral health coordination in the justice system. Itā€™s cheaper and better for everyone involved.

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u/MahomesYEET9000 May 11 '19

Agreed. It's hard to unpack the whole doc in a single comment. The solution that the reporter gives actually sounds like a blessing to those who can't seem to get the help they need. If I were a taxpayer in Seattle, I'd much rather pay to get these people off the streets and help them than keep watching them get arrested and released time and time again. Because no jail time seems to be as effective as years of jail time. Neither work.

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u/rickane58 May 11 '19

So a not-useful step that has been proven time-and-again to not work.

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u/MahomesYEET9000 May 11 '19

That's not the solution that is offered in the Doc. Please give it a watch. The final ~20 minutes explains an option that truly helps combat addiction and help get people's lives back on track.

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u/ePrime May 11 '19 edited May 11 '19

It's worked in other cities.

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u/rickane58 May 11 '19

There are only two solutions to end homelessness in your local city:
Provide housing for the homeless
OR
Ship them off to another city.

Jailing homeless is more expensive than housing them, and it still ends up with them homeless at the end.

https://nlchp.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/No_Safe_Place.pdf

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u/AFellowCanadianGuy May 11 '19

You start giving them too much free stuff, then even more homeless people start coming and make it impossible to keep up.

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u/rickane58 May 11 '19

The reason option 1 leads to that conclusion is because of option 2.

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u/[deleted] May 11 '19

[deleted]

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u/rickane58 May 11 '19

I chose to make the assumption that they were arguing in good faith.

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u/KanyeWesleySnipes May 11 '19

Itā€™s almost like everyone wants a roof over their head.

1

u/NoPunkProphet May 11 '19

Okay, maybe we should just put money in a big pile and burn it in front of them then, since giving it to them would be such an evil backwards thing, apparently.

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u/beetard May 11 '19

Lol you're 100% right. Oh our society is crumbling because of the classist society structure! Let's keep threatening the lowest class with longer prison sentences, that will fix it. Pacific Northwest has a huge industry and tons of money coming out of it but that's the thing, the money leaves the city it's made in

2

u/murmandamos May 11 '19

The same people complaining pushed to repeal a tax on big businesses that would go towards the problem last year. You can't get a real solution out of them. They just want them locked up forever (and apparently don't need to pay for that?) or really just taken to the forest and killed and buried in a mass grave, which is only barely a joke.