[Ptlnd]

>Consider that Paris is comparatively very trashy but also way more conservative than San Francisco.

What are you talking about? Paris has the same sort of drug addiction issues. Lots of the people trashing the commons are nasty violent crack addicts

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.thelocal.fr/20180117/junkie...

https://rmc.bfmtv.com/emission/ravages-de-la-drogue-dans-le-...

>"For example, last year, there were no fewer than 850 traffic interruptions and power cuts because drug addicts crossed the tracks, carried out their business on the tracks, or pulled the alarm to stop the trains to either sell or buy drugs," Chaplan, who is also a representative of the trade union SUD-RATP, said.

Junkies are a blight on civilization

[NeedMoreTea]

Ever consider how that might change if treated?

It was the introduction of the war on drugs that introduced the need to push drugs, to pay for the habit. When clean heroin and needles were available, along with treatment for those who wanted to quit, there was barely a problem at all.

Many nations had successful history of tolerance without problems of junkies. The the US was determined to export their war on drugs globally. The hysteria of Harry Anslinger who gave the world the Reefer Madness mentality, and faked acres of evidence, was the US representative for the newly formed UN committee on drugs. It was his swan song resulting from Nixon's public enemy number 1 initiative.

India, The Netherlands, Britain and others had almost no drug addicts prior to this. There were of course some - but they were still productive members of society - yet orders of magnitude fewer than in the USA under prohibition. No police connected drugs with crime or anti-social behaviours.

Now everywhere is in a similar boat to the US, drugs outlawed with enough organised crime that going back to the old ways is probably impossible.

[sbarre]

> Junkies are a blight on civilization

Let me fix that for you: Junkies are human beings with serious medical conditions related to substance abuse and often mental illness.

As a "civilization" we are ultimately measured by how we treat our most vulnerable, because that tells you the value we place on human life.

Society needs to spend more time and effort helping people with drug addiction problems, and less time vilifying and dehumanizing them.

[nemothekid]

The presence of junkies doesn't mean that city is open to drugs as San Francisco is. Cannabis is illegal in France, yet still suffers from the same problems. However, Cannabis is legal in the Netherlands and Amsterdam is far more hospitable.

What the GP was bringing up was the attitude towards drugs, not people using drugs in general. SF was a far more lax attitude to drugs than France, yet its afflicted by similar problems. Blaming drugs is just a convenient scapegoat so that harder problems aren't addressed.

[Frondo]

> "Junkies are a blight on civilization"

Junkies are human beings with a problem. So are cancer patients. So are veterans with PTSD.

It's our job to remember they're people and need help, not cast them out further. We're rich enough as a species that we can save those in trouble; we shouldn't forget that.