Content
@
https://warpcast.com/~/channel/cryptoleft
0 reply
0 recast
0 reaction
Tay Zonday
@tayzonday
It says a lot to me that Rodrigo Duterte, ex Philippines president famous for encouraging drug-abuser genocide— and the American state of Oregon, which decriminalized most drugs in 2020 only to re-criminalize them in 2024— both seemed powerless to resolve unaffordable housing and healthcare, key causes behind most public drug-use grievance. I have been around plenty of rich people and there’s no shortage of unhealthy illegal drug use. However, because they’re not unhoused and wandering the streets, they aren’t understood to be a public pain point. Their problems and tragedies remain out-of-view. Lopsided prosperity contributing to lopsided basic-need affordability is the puppeteer behind headline-grabbing drug use and homelessness. The unwillingness to re-distribute unearned prosperity that was dubiously distributed upwards back downwards is why some now see a need for involuntary abduction and treatment for substance abuse: Having your own home and paid bills is an unattainable “treatment.”
3 replies
2 recasts
22 reactions
Tay Zonday
@tayzonday
[As usual, I run out of text 🤪] This is, of course, not to demean real and all-too-common “riches to rags” tragedies connected with substance use disorder and especially opioid use disorder— But drug abuse as a concept has a long history of being scapegoated and blamed for wider policy failures. It is not fair to assess visible substance dependency as “problem souls” being emergent from an immaculate, innocent vacuum. Personality responsibility is important and perfectly fine to articulate. However, personal responsibility tends to be over-articulated in solution narratives while collective failure and collective irresponsibility tied to visible prosperity is never part of the conversation.
1 reply
0 recast
9 reactions
Trigs
@trigs
It won't stop until we stop looking at drug use as the problem, like calling addiction a disease. Drug use is a symptom, and treating symptoms doesn't usually cure the disease. Addressing the underlying problems, whether they are: mental health, resource scarcity, social & community support/acceptance, personal identity... The problems are nuanced and deeply embedded into our society. Blaming ppl for being "bad eggs" sure isn't solving it tho.
0 reply
0 recast
0 reaction
NgGyDsj
@zqupbbms
It confronts the powerful if you frame the issue properly, expect that fact to keep what is right hidden.
0 reply
0 recast
0 reaction
