To the editor: Steve Lopez has written one other fine column on drug addiction and homelessness around MacArthur Park in Los Angeles.
From my perspective, addicts who refuse therapy deserve no sympathy. We should always all really feel sympathy for the police, paramedics and clean-up crews who’re required to do their tough jobs coping with the addicts.
Lopez talked to 1 addict, Aaron, who has overdosed 20 instances and doesn’t assume rehab would work for him. He stated, “Individuals don’t wish to get clear. They wish to get excessive.” He was clearly speaking about himself.
One other addict informed Lopez that the most effective resolution is obligatory detox. A number of the extra overly sympathetic amongst us wish to make obligatory detox or incarceration an unacceptable “civil rights difficulty.”
So now drug use is not a criminal offense however a illness and “public well being disaster.” OK, let’s deal with probably the most diseased and problematic addicts who’re inflicting this disaster and place them in a managed facility to get them cured of their illness. Give these addicts who actually wish to get clear all of the providers and assist they want.
For others, let’s not waste time, effort and assets.
Dick Helmuth, Costa Mesa
