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Comment by tayo42 | Hacker News Reader

Why do we need to do anything? Whats the problem with people being homeless and keeping to them selves?

They don’t have proper sanitation or garbage services. There are basically no public restrooms in SF. The vast majority are drug abusers that need money to pay for their addictions. They don’t have jobs, but they still get that money. How they get that money is the problem.

We already have laws the prohibit people doing illegal things. Crime isn't exclusive to homelessness.

And i seem to remember public bathrooms near the bart stations. they were like temporary green plastic things. but sure the city should have more in general. those kinds of things help everybody

So being homeless isnt the problem, mudering isnt exclusive to homeless people. Drugs and prostitution aren't problems. Cities not having adequate public serivces like bathrooms is a problem.

So you'll host a camp in your backyard then?

I think you should take a step back from this topic if it's making your responses that emotional or elaborate more. Nothing you said is a rational response. That was 100% flame bait.

Seriously, if homeless camps aren't a problem then why aren't you hosting one?

Because no one should be expected to solve a societal problem personally.

Drugs create big livability problems for the neighborhood residents who aren’t using them. For example, despite the presence of needle exchanges throughout my city, it’s not uncommon to find a used needle on the ground. Or, people who are high on meth do all sorts of disruptive and disturbing things, like having screaming matches with themselves in the middle of the street. So yeah, drugs are, in fact, a problem.

The problems around drugs exist because theyre illegal.If we were more accepting, legalized use, and had real support systems in place for people struggling these problems would go away.

We have littering rules, we as a society don't find it important. Why is styrofoam or cans OK. If you thinks drugs are a problem because they are a source of litter you should also think take out and portable food and other things people litter with are a problem?

There's a huge difference between styrofoam litter and used needles in terms of health hazard.

I live in Portland. Last year the voters in Oregon voted to decriminalize all drugs when in user level quantities. No one bats an eye when someone shoots up, smokes meth, etc on the streets. There are needle exchanges available. I’d say that’s fairly accepting, and the legal risk has been removed for the user. And yet the problem has gotten much, much worse. Why? Because people who are out of their heads on meth or nodded out on the street can have no meaningful interaction with the rest of society without disrupting it. Meth, at least in its current form, makes people confused, paranoid, and violent. No support system short of full on institutionalization can cope with that, and there is a mountain of case law that makes involuntary commitment extraordinarily difficult in this country.

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