In an afternoon of begging, can-collecting or self-debasement, America's homeless people can secure for themselves actual cocaine, heroin or methamphetamine. It's probably wildly impure and dangerous, but homeless people in other countries are working twice as hard for a paper bag filled with spray-paint or rubber cement. We got a fuckton of drugs, y'all.

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"Jesus is my Lord and Savior. And if you believe in him, he can be your's too."

if the homeless can routinely get their hands on it.

Plus if you are homeless to you can make $20 in 7hr panhandling and if you're near the hood $20 will get you all kinds of drugs.

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"Jesus is my Lord and Savior. And if you believe in him, he can be your's too."

Coke is too expensive on that kind of budget tho.

>

if you want drugs, you will find a connect to get them.

LOL

try getting high off the residue in your pocket get back to us.

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"Jesus is my Lord and Savior. And if you believe in him, he can be your's too."

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/cocaine-use-in-britain-so-high-it-has-contaminated-our-drinking-water-report-shows-9350477.html

I can go get a new Rack Today and it won't have any drug residue.

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"Jesus is my Lord and Savior. And if you believe in him, he can be your's too."

it probably has cocaine residue on it.

check out cocaine cowboys.

i guess i'd have to make friends w/someone who has a connect. but i assume i'd need to make a phone call to the dealer or to my homie w/the connection. i'm also assuming i'd not have a phone were i homeless - and that's not necessarily so.

if you were homeless, you'd be walking up to grimy dudes doing hand-to-hands on the street

have you actually worked with or talked to homeless ppl?

b/c i have....

my point there was i'm not comfortable making lulzees about the homeless as if they're fictional ppl. these are real ppl living real lives and struggling w/real issues.

more importantly i can't lol along w/the suggestion that if i were homeless i'd be converted into some desperate, mindless sex and drug addicted zombie. b/c i've known too many homeless ppl who don't fit that profile to agree that i'd be that way. and the few who do fit the profile are usually struggling w/some serious mental health issue(s). the majority of the homeless fight w/everything they have to maintain their dignity and to sit here and trade LULZEES about that is just a bit too far for me.

You stated you wouldn't know where to find drugs, and John answered correctly. I have lived in several neighborhoods where a lot of homeless were copping drugs from a grimy dude right on the street. No phone numbers, no "meet ups", it was right there and available at any time. Shrug.

I agree with everything else you said.

it's nothing to laugh at.

The majority of the homeless have mental health issues.

There are some who are hooked on drugs and a lot of them are very good at scheming or working day labor jobs to support their habit.

and there was always a guy who was damn near homeless who would come around the shelter selling drugs.

so there are dealers who target the homeless specifically. that makes sense.

they also got a mental illness or a habit but they are able to curb it long enough to make a little money or just sell enough so they can get high without paying out of pocket.

This post is about the insane over-abundance of drugs that allows even our poorest access to what should be really, really expensive shit.

the idea that the homeless have nothing to lose...i can't agree at all. that's why i asked if you've worked with or talked to actual homeless ppl.

Firstly, countries with extreme poverty still have homeless people that use drugs like crack and heroin. China, Iran, Pakistan, South American countries, etc.

And it doesn't cost that much money to maintain an addiction. I think what throws people off is the fact that the addiction takes all the money one has. So if an upper middle-class person gets addicted to opiates....sure, they might spend $200 per day. But you don't NEED to spend that much to maintain an addiction. You will, however, spend that much if you got it.

$20 per day is sufficient to maintain an addiction to crack or heroin for a homeless person. They're not gonna get as much as they want....but they can stay addicted with that budget. I could stay rreasonably buzzed on $20 worth of heroin all day long. If one was disciplined....you could stretch $20 worth of crack out over 5 hours or so.

yes, poor people have access to the good stuff, but there's a whole lot of glue huffing and struggle drugs like krokodil out there.

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"Jesus is my Lord and Savior. And if you believe in him, he can be your's too."

>i guess i'd have to make friends w/someone who has a connect.

even with a phone or not
there's the association of mental illness and homelessness
there's also the association of drug-use and homelessness (difficult to define which leads to the other)
the fact that its prevalent probably means that the issue is not access.
the number of heroin addicts on these streets, also seems to suggest its not (really) cost
(i used to think it was prohibitively expensive, apparently not

the larger society refuses to treat beyond folks who have the support systems and money available for treatment and recovery

homelessness could almost be wiped out if we still didn't treat mental health and addiction among the POOR as crimes instead of health issues we are all responsible for helping solve.

oh and shout to dude in the wire who said "you think i sleep under a ^&*%$^% bridge sober?" lol

I know it doesn't fit into a nice 'society is evil' narrative....but homelessness is a problem because we STOPPED treating mental illness as a crime. We use to lock them up in loony bins. During the 60's and 70's there was a big change of heart concerning the confinement of the mentally ill against their will (One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest being a major advocate).

criminalizing mental illness?

in lieu of treatment & counseling?

yikes

I can state a description of events without painting villains and heroes. These problems are complicated and 50 cent activist idealogies that point fingers and bleed from hearts don't fix any problems.

But no, I don't think we should go back to confining people with mental disabilities against their will. Having a homelessness problem is the lesser of evils.

If mental illness were effectively treated by criminalization, wouldn't mental illness and as a result crime have been wiped out by now?

There is an irony that America has the highest amount of people incarcerated also has a great societal problem with drug abuse and also is one of the most unhappiest relative to its level of wealth.

with homeless people ever in your life...

much of the homeless community here are basically addicts that have formed a community where they hang out together, share their booze/drugs and whatever other resources they might procure.

i was just talking to a friend about how it really is a mirror reflection of 12 step programs, both are groups who support each other in accomplishing their goal, it's just one group wants to do drugs and the other doesn't...

>much of the homeless community here are basically addicts that
>have formed a community where they hang out together, share
>their booze/drugs and whatever other resources they might
>procure.

oh okay.

>i was just talking to a friend about how it really is a mirror
>reflection of 12 step programs, both are groups who support
>each other in accomplishing their goal, it's just one group
>wants to do drugs and the other doesn't...

sure.

You were right! Whatever you said was correct.

LOL

and if you think WE have lots of extra blow sitting around imagine how much extra blow there is in the nations where the shit is actually produced.

the same for every other substance.

i don't agree that the homeless and indigent in other nations can't get access to drugs.

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2015/04/16/400125730/homeless-shelter-opts-to-close-instead-of-accepting-people-on-drugs-alcohol

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/storyline/wp/2014/08/08/one-in-four-people-living-on-the-street-say-they-have-chronic-drug-or-alcohol-problems/

>and if you think WE have lots of extra blow sitting around
>imagine how much extra blow there is in the nations where the
>shit is actually produced.

GoFundMe time, niggas

basuco = runoff from coke production

:-)

http://www.shopmayu.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/Picture-31.png

the rub is that chewing coca leaves doesn't produce the same high as snorting or smoking coke.

yikes!

i saw a kid using that on some cocaine documentary i caught on Current TV. it made me so sad for him.

Drugs are not unique at all. America has an abundance of everything, just like most capitalistic nations. The UNIQUE thing, which you are overlooking, is that many of these homeless ppl with access to drugs would rather do drugs first then eat later. or get a home later. drugs are cheap(er) here than other places, but at the same time, if a homeless person gets a $10 and has to choose between a crack high or a sandwich, a drug addict will choose to get high.

addiction doesn't really work that way.

if I give you $10 and say to you: you can use it for drugs or for food, whichever you do, was a choice. drug addicts make choices too...and their choice most times is to feed that addiction because they don't want to go through the pain of withdrawal or they enjoy the high. Either way if you "need" it to make it through the day, that's still a choice because a person could also choose to get help and not stay stuck in that situation no matter how much it hurts. It's various factors in this, sure, I'm simplifying but that doesn't negate the point. i say this as someone who knows drug addicts. yes the drugs take a hold of you but until he decided he didn't want that life, all of his decisions were only guided to feed his addiction.

you're overstating it, technically it's a "choice" but it's far more complex than that and chalking it up to the simple idea of "choice" fails to address what is really going on with addicted persons.

also said its many factors to play here.

but my example is SPECIFIC and it's the only one I'm using here to make a point...homeless ppl aren't buying drugs because of abundance.

I choose food because it's a necessity.
I am comparing it to drugs because (addicts) homeless ppl are using it out of necessity. Regular homeless ppl aren't just buying up drugs all willy nilly which is the tone of the OP.

see this is the thing...homeless addicts will buy drugs because it's easier to find food than it is to get free drugs. perhaps my point wasn't clear...but to say homeless ppl get it out abundance is flawed.

i agree it's not necessarily abundance, it's availability...

my takeaway is that drugs being illegal makes them no less available and that amongst subcultures that are ignored by mainstream society drugs are even more available

>see this is the thing...homeless addicts will buy drugs
>because it's easier to find food than it is to get free drugs.
>perhaps my point wasn't clear...but to say homeless ppl get it
>out abundance is flawed.

Absolutely true. You can find food dumpster-diving....at churches....at food banks. Priority #1 is always gonna be the vice because you can ask/scrounge for everything else. The homeless that i interact with never spend ANY money on ANYTHING other than their vice. All the rest of their necessities come from ingenuity/charity.

failure, waste of time, money and human life...

because people that really want drugs are going to find them no matter what...

MESSAGE! (c) K.I. Wayans

Telling folks "No, you can't have that for your own good" has done absolutely nothing to stop any form of drug use/abuse.

The threat of prison, loss of livelihood, and everything else has not deterred drug use. The possibility of death from OD has not deterred drug use. The billboards, "just say no" campaigns, and all of hat shit has not deterred drug use.

People that want to get high will get high whether we have laws against it or not.
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"Where was the peace when we were getting shot? Where's the peace when we were getting laid out?
Where is the peace when we are in the back of ambulances? Where is the peace then?
They don't want to call for peace then.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=WXxwOiOX0HM

the difference between the USA and other nations is that we have an abundance of dirt cheap drugs that other countries don't really have. Meth is everywhere, but it's cheapest here. I have yet to find even a single statistic on crack being a problem anywhere but here in this country. Heroin is so cheap here it can be found at crack prices where elsewhere it's still fairly expensive.

Russia does have Krokodil, and it's super cheap. Other countries have their cheap drugs but nowhere else has it like this country.



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"Where was the peace when we were getting shot? Where's the peace when we were getting laid out?
Where is the peace when we are in the back of ambulances? Where is the peace then?
They don't want to call for peace then.

http://www.npr.org/sections/parallels/2014/04/30/306590068/an-afghan-village-of-drug-addicts-from-ages-10-to-60

*cough*

i keep trying to point out these parallels to folks...

South American coke producing countries have lots of people struggling with addiction.

Afghanistan is -the- heroin producing country, so having a shitload of addicts is, well... normal.

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"Where was the peace when we were getting shot? Where's the peace when we were getting laid out?
Where is the peace when we are in the back of ambulances? Where is the peace then?
They don't want to call for peace then.

heroin is ridiculously cheap there

Or at least not the same desire to exterminate/tailor a portion of their population.

There's a reason why people smuggle drugs into the United States. It's because they're dirt cheap elsewhere....not in the US. Cocaine/crack are much more expensive in europe but that's because of the US proximity to cocaine producing countries. As far as I know....heroin is actually cheaper in Europe.

I think that was a 90s thing

who smuggles drugs into America to make less money?

1. They are the drug producers. Of course they have the abundance
2. You ship to where the market is the biggest. Would you rather sell 10 kilos at 25k each or 10,000 kilos at 10k each?

everyone i have spent any length of time like colombia, spain, peru, holland, etc.

drugs in some of those places are almost as cheap as glue and shit though.

realities for a moment...


"i wanna hug all u idiotic bastards & then set you all on fire" -Bin

www.twitter.com/bedstuybetty
http://bedstuybetty.tumblr.com/
DROkayplayer: Giving you good puff since May '05

Munch has some great quotables speaking to your point b

https://m.soundcloud.com/paulhurdle/curtis-munch

they are basically working around the clock to cop

i can't even imagine how much money a single person can procure to support their habit throughout a lifetime

i am sure many life long junkies have come close to a million

there was a story of an old homeless man who raised $750,000 on the streets and donated all of it to 911 aid. that's crazy to me.

....they have no rent to pay so they can use their whole check on drugs.