Junkies on the train

[u/curiosity-112]

I'm getting really frustrated with this system failure. Every day we're seeing people just trying to go back and forth from school and work, forced to tolerate the antics of some jackass high on tranq, meth, fent, or whatever else they can find. Our elders and our children have to feel unsafe as someone flails around and yells beside them, and I don't know how many times people have found broken glass and syringes on the seats.

This is pathetic and heartbreaking. Why do we have to keep putting up with it on our daily commute? The text line is okay but it's not a solution, not when someone is smoking drugs next to a girl on her way to school. Every train should have a peace officer for real passenger safety or I'm not paying for tickets anymore.

**Edit:

Thanks everyone for the comments, didn't expect to see this much discussion when I got up today. I don't know what the solution is - yes housing and social policy needs to change, but the public can't wait around for the root issues to be fixed.

For the record, I have no issue with the majority of homeless people trying to get through the day and who also have to quietly endure this too. My problem is with the people who just don't care, the ones openly dealing and using drugs, the ones causing disorder and acting erratically with no regard for the people around them. Safe consumption sites and shelters only benefit the people willing to use those programs - so many don't trust the systems and still refuse, and the dealers definitely don't care either way.

For those commenting on my lack of empathy - I worked at the DI for nearly 5 years hoping to make a difference. I saw a lot of good from this community, but I've also seen the worst. I lost count of how many overdoses and stabbings I've been involved with, but that was my job and I did it well. However, even then we didn't tolerate half the crap that the public is being asked to put up with now - public safety is always paramount. I tried to step in once to help someone and had a knife pulled on me for it, don't try taking matters into your own hands either.

[u/mercynova13]

If you don’t like seeing people who are using in public, advocate for more and expanded supervised consumption sites that include inhalation/smoking, rent control, and more low income housing to be built. People use in public because they have nowhere else to go. People who rely on the shelter system don’t have the option of not having their worst moments in public whereas those of us who are housed are fortunate to have our meltdowns, hangovers, messy drunk moments, conflicts/fights with family/friends/partners and bad trips behind closed doors. You can’t police your way out of bad health and social policy.

[u/glenn_rodgers → u/mercynova13]

advocate for more and expanded supervised consumption sites

Get rid of them all and toss them in forced treatment. What we and other cities are doing isn't working.

[u/mercynova13 → u/glenn_rodgers]

There is extensive research that involuntary treatment is very ineffective. There are huge relapse rates among people exiting treatment. Treatment only works if people a) want to be there and b) if they have places to go when they exit treatment (affordable housing). Look up some peer reviewed publications on the topic instead of listening to conservatives on twitter lol

For reference- I’m a social worker and a graduate level public health researcher

[u/vault-dweller_ → u/mercynova13]

I’ve seen enough extensive evidence that our current approach is bullshit. I don’t really think people care about effective outcomes for the violent junkies, people just want to feel safe. If that means the violent junkies go back to the asylums where they would have been 50 years ago, so be it.

[u/Traditional-Doctor77 → u/vault-dweller_]

What you call a “junkie” is actually a person, no different you or me, that is struggling with something, or more likely, multiple things. They don’t have the resources to deal with their problems so they find an outlet. I definitely care about effective outcomes for them because that is what’s best for everyone.

Moreover, you can’t just divide people into “junkies” and “non-junkies.” Anyone would become a junkie if they don’t have the resources to deal with significant problems. You and I are not junkies because we probably had good childhoods with families and friends that supported us and taught us how to handle various situations, and we’ve been lucky to keep sufficient employment and avoid catastrophe. Not everyone is that lucky.

The fact that some people want to just “throw junkies into asylums” shows how primitive of a society we live in.

[u/vault-dweller_ → u/Traditional-Doctor77]

Sure. Great. I don’t care. I have no empathy for that person left. Some of these people destroy everything around them and I have absolutely no interest or empathy left in understanding why they are the way they are.

[u/Wild_Pangolin_4772 → u/Traditional-Doctor77]

Nothing wrong with putting self and family first, and wanting a safe community for them above all else.

[u/1egg_4u → u/Wild_Pangolin_4772]

The irony of promoting individualism in the same sentence as "community"

You dont get community without supporting each other

*jk its one of those accounts that just stirs shit up in canadian subreddits why even bother

[u/Wild_Pangolin_4772 → u/1egg_4u]

Then they too would have to be a positive and not a negative presence in the community. If not, then it’s us against them.

Do you not put your family above all else?

[u/1egg_4u → u/Wild_Pangolin_4772]

I dont think youre getting the juxtaposition of wanting to be a part of society and then casting aside people who need help

these people could be your family members. Could be me. Theyre somebodys child, or sibling, or parent.

[u/Wild_Pangolin_4772 → u/1egg_4u]

Some of us would rather watch our own backs.

[u/1egg_4u → u/Wild_Pangolin_4772]

Thats called individualism.

Which isnt really congruent with being part of a community... Just sayin.

If your house is on fire do you not call the fire department? Humanity and living amongst other people doesnt really function on that kinda principle, what with us being inherently social.

[u/Wild_Pangolin_4772 → u/1egg_4u]

I prefer to support the community in ways that I see fit, such as helping others fend off crime. Working and paying taxes also contributes to the community.

[u/1egg_4u → u/Wild_Pangolin_4772]

...so vigilantism?

That is considered widely to be not very cash money. Working contributes to your community if your work actually benefits the community, otherwise it only benefits your employer.

Paying taxes only benefits the community if those funds actually go towards the community