How a New Type of Drug Is Fueling Homelessness
My latest podcast episode with award-winning journalist Sam Quinones.
A few months ago, I read a story in LA Magazine by Sam Quinones about the rise of methamphetamine and fentanyl in the United States and how it's fueling the homeless crisis. The piece blew my mind—it was like Sam flicked on a light switch and illuminated an essential part of this complicated story that nobody else was talking about.
That's what great journalists can do.
After reading the story, I immediately googled Sam and learned that he'd written two monumental books on the drug trade. The first, Dreamland, traced the origin of the opioid epidemic in the U.S.— from OxyContin to heroin.
His new book, The Least of Us, picked up where Dreamland left off, looking at the new wave of even more dangerous and deadly illicit drugs in this country, specifically meth and fentanyl. These drugs have always been around, but now they're being made cheaply and are more potent than ever.
In the latest episode of Write About Now, Sam takes a somewhat controversial view that this new form of meth, in particular, is partly what's causing mental illness in the homeless community and why there are so many encampments.
This story hit home for me, as I live in Los Angeles, which has become ground zero for the homeless crisis. A few days ago, the new mayor Karen Bass declared a state of emergency, vowing to build affordable housing and shelters and invest in services and resources.
Whether you live in a big city like LA or New York, or a smaller city, the meth and fentanyl crisis is very real and very scary. Sam seems to be one of the few journalists talking about it honestly.
For instance, he explains that one reason the homeless encampments are filled with so much garbage, bicycle parts, and clutter, is because the new meth causes its victims to horde. Also, meth makes you insular and virtually unable to think of anything but your next hit.
Here's Sam:
"There are many reasons why you're homeless, but once you are homeless, methamphetamine is in such vast supply that people very quickly turn to it because it allows you to deal with being homeless. You are separated from your grim reality. You're up all night so you can protect yourself against beatings or rape or theft. And once you begin to use meth, regardless of the reason why you were originally homeless, it's very, very difficult to get off that stuff and very difficult to back into housing."
This is a very bleak and somewhat hopeless perspective, but Sam is encouraged by some community outreach programs he has seen in his extensive reporting.
"Look, we all were evolved within a deep need, not a desire for, a deep need for community. That's how we survived as a species," he says. "We need to find ways of rekindling the small local initiatives that bring people together."
To listen to the full episode, go here.
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