The tent and the drugs, cont'd


I don't know if you'll be able to see this story in the San Francisco Chronicle – I got it via Apple News – but if you can get through to it, it's worth a read. There is also a video here, but be aware, it's more than a little disturbing. It's about a junkie who's homeless in San Francisco, and her mother, who left Tacoma and moved down there to try to save her.

It didn't work.

The daughter isn't ever going to have a roof over her head for very long. Living on the street, with government handouts and anything she can steal from Target, is the easiest way for her to be a junkie.

Jessica said her life might seem hard, but it’s actually pretty carefree, and she offered a sweeping explanation of one reason why her mom would face such long odds trying to pull her out of San Francisco.

“The city is way too easy for people with nothing to get by,” she said. “That’s why I’m still here nine years later. You get by with doing drugs and suffer no consequences. I like it here.”...

I asked Jessica if she thought she’d ever leave San Francisco.

“It’s like a vortex,” she said. “I want to get out of here. But why the f— would I leave here if I have everything I need given to me?

“It might be enabling or it might be keeping you in a cycle, but at least you can survive,” she continued. “That’s better than a lot of places.”

The mom eventually gave up and moved back to Tacoma.

How many of Portland's homeless are like her daughter? If they've firmly decided, from drugs or whatever, to throw their lives away, then no amount of warm, fuzzy love is going to change things. Something tougher is going to be required. Or else they will die on our streets, and we will watch. 

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