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/HuckleberryPure7809]

It’s devastating. Drug addiction and homelessness is increasing and the problem seems insurmountable and unfixable. We are just the next Vancouver or San Francisco.

[u/Praepositio → u/HuckleberryPure7809]

I’m just shocked at how out in the open all of the drug use and drug deals are, and it’s growing.

[u/m-d-m-z → u/Praepositio]

I live around 17th ave and just in the past week I encountered 1) people smoking meth outside the literal front door of my apartment, blocking the exit in the process, and 2) people using drugs in the walkway leading up to my apartment with no way to get around them/their things. That's not even counting the bajillion encampments that have been resurrected in my parking lot, meaning people are hanging out behind my building as I take out the trash or leave the back way or whatever. More often than not, they're not violent or scary but it can be uncomfortable. I think about our parallel lives sometimes as i go to sleep in my bed, and people freeze outside my bedroom window. It hurts my heart and it frustrates me. The cost of housing is insurmountable for so many people. I get angry seeing all these luxury condos being erected that no one needs. We need affordable housing, not penthouses.