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‘Drugs Are Helping Me To Not Go Crazy’: Blue-City Addicts Say They’re Locked In A Cycle Of Abuse

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Homeless drug addicts in San Francisco say they are locked in a cycle of abuse as many have been unwilling to enroll in treatment programs, according to the San Francisco Standard.

Drug addicts living on the streets in San Francisco say they cannot break their habits of drug abuse, despite the availability of city-run treatment centers, according to the San Francisco Standard. Some addicts have said that they have no reason to get treatment due to being homeless, while others have welcomed the idea of receiving treatment but have failed to enroll in a program.

A homeless man interviewed by the San Francisco Standard was found sitting on the curb next to a dose of fentanyl across from an addiction treatment facility, according to the outlet. Reporters from the San Francisco Standard informed the man of the location of the center that could provide him treatment for his addiction, however, after initially expressing interest in going, the man ultimately changed his mind and then attempted to purchase a beer from a nearby liquor store.

Another homeless person the outlet spoke to said that she had no reason to get treatment for her addiction and that drugs were “helping” her. She also reportedly told the outlet that transportation to drug treatment centers presents an issue, implying that she may see other users on the bus.

“Why am I going to get clean when I’m homeless,” Maycie Stamps reportedly told the San Francisco Standard. “Drugs are helping me not to go crazy.”

“It’s a lot about getting there,” Stamps told the San Francisco Standard. “If I take the bus, I may end up seeing someone I know and end up fucking around.”

San Francisco’s most recently conducted one-night count of its homeless population in 2022 found that approximately 3,400 people were spending the night in homeless shelters, around 4,400 were sleeping on the street and about 20,000 experience homelessness in the city in a given year, according to the San Francisco Standard. The outlet also reports that homelessness in the city is down 3.5% since 2019, but still 13% higher than it was in 2017.

The number of homeless people in San Francisco that died in the year following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic doubled from the previous year mainly due to drug overdoses, according to a University of California San Francisco study. Of the number of homeless individuals that died that year, 82% of them were caused by drug overdoses, according to the study.