Out there, somewhere in that other nation, why, there is rumor of a whole army committed to eradicating weed, pills, rock, ice, uppers, downers, you name it, anything that puffs, fumes, tastes good, tastes bad, bangs you in the head, or goes up your nose or in your arm and takes you to the moon, or to your inner child, or to the corner one more time, or to the last battering ram in hell.
Anyway, that's what we in homeless nation hear.
A whole war devoted to eradicating and interdicting, and snuffing out all that stuff that makes you happy, sad, crazy, unconscious, confused, deluded.....in trouble with that guy in the uniform who just slapped the cuffs on you. In more trouble with the significant other who had no idea what life with an addict is really like.
And according to the U.S. government which is funding this War on Drugs, we have at one time or another in the course of this war the government has declared - declared in an abstraction of words so imprecise, we cannot tell if the phrase means that there is a war someplace that is high on drugs, or that we are fighting drugs....turned the corner.
In fact, we've turned the corner in the war on drugs so many times, we can almost see the light at the end of the tunnel that leads to the next corner to be turned in the war on drugs leading to the end of the tunnel.
That would be the tunnel dug all the way from Juarez, Mexico to just under the White House, and right under the noses of the Secret Service, the Pentagon, the FBI and the DEA.
DEA means Drug Enforcement Administration. And it is the agency that President Richard Nixon thunk up to confuse and tee off all of the people in the FBI who thought that interdicting and eradicating and snuffing out was their job.
In fact, President Nixon started this whole thing when he invented the Drug Enforcement Administration in 1973 because his statement in June of 1971 when he first uttered those fateful words, "War on Drugs." in a speech explaining that we had to do something about the use and abuse of illegal drugs which practice had become "Public Enemy Number One." went right over our heads.
The President didn't know at the time, that soon, he would be glorified as Public Enemy Number One, but well, he had to do something. Even Elvis was nagging him about the use and abuse of drugs. Ahem.
Anyway, here in homeless nation we hear all about this war, and then we look around and say, what war? Where? How many soldiers? Think they got some extra food stamps?? Or a bus pass??!!
See, here in homeless nation, drugs are alive and well, and living it up, and kicking the butts of about eighty percent of the street puppies.
That's right. eighty percent.
Now, this is not one of those scientific polls. You know, the ones where some person making seven bucks an hour plus commission for every call, phones you up at dinner time and says, "So...are you homeless and do you snort coke? uh, huh...what about rock? Meth? Oh, and pills...
No. See...the likelihood of any street puppy answering any question on the phone -when they can get one...or worse talking to a guy on the street with a clipboard, a sheet of paper filled with questions and a pen is slim to none. Not even when the guy with the clipboard tosses the street puppie a few pair of socks, and or a couple bottles of water.
No, this is not one of those scientific polls. This poll is not about statistics, or facts. This poll is about the realpolitik of the situation regarding the use and abuse of drugs - all drugs - by street puppies.
This is a poll that has been taken in a survey of street puppies who actually live on the street. or any street puppy who meets the criteria for being homeless which, according to the federal government, is anybody who did not have a fixed address to sleep at last night.
A survey in which you count the dead, the near dead, the could have died last night, the lost the third job in a month, the can't or won't feed the family because the rock comes first, the I meant to pay you back but I ran into my crack dealer on the corner, the I just got out of jail and I need to borrow a few bucks for another hit, or a 4pack... or Vicodin or Oxy...the I just can't get it together to get something to eat because I have to stop the shakes first, the I made fifty bucks in two hours panhandling at the corner and I spent it all on crack within about ten minutes, The my boyfriend beat the crap out of me because he was high and I wouldn't give him my food stamp money for another hit. The I'm so sorry I stole your stuff and sold it but I needed to get high survey.
Yeah, that survey.
The survey that tells you everything you did not want to know about how rampant the use and abuse of drugs really is in homeless nation. And how it kicks the butts of eighty percent of the street puppies on any given day.
And to anybody who insists the figure is more like, oh, 17 percent.
We say, you must have your head in that tunnel dug from Juarez, Mexico to just under the White House.
Amazingly you continue to provide a first-hand view of homelessness with honesty, humor & style. And perhaps you are the exception that proves the cruel rule of drugs you describe. (hard to write coherently when high or strung-out)
ReplyDeleteIt is certainly a valid caution about giving cash impulsively to many panhandlers instead of donating to outfits that provide them with essentials and an option to get clean.
Hey....in the wake of Memorial Day, and recalling your expressed interest in profiling a homeless Veteran or so, consider contacting Athena House/Crossways that uniquely serves female homeless vets and recently won a fed grant to expand services, providing essentials, rehab and a path to self-sufficiency.
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