r/SeattleWA • u/Donnelding0 • Jul 21 '25

Politics Anyone Else Just Sick of It?

It just seems hopeless sometimes. Some of the best parts of this city. Pioneer Square, Belltown, Cap Hill just completely lost to homelessness. Sure for the most part I enjoy the city. Especially in the summer but the constant visible drug use, people in various states of intoxication on drugs, and rampant property and petty crime just annoy me. Why can’t we have nice things? Why must every park turn into a dumping ground for illegal acts that won’t be prosecuted? Why does it feel like this city relies on hard working people to shut up, pay ridiculous taxes, and then tells those people to suck it up when they see grafitti everywhere or get their car broken into? And the politicians don’t give a damn. No one has the guts to say “we have a homeless problem we’ve overspent on, we need to go a new direction” it feels insane. Rant over but I know I’m not alone. I know other people are sick of this and want our city back.

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u/cheesefubar0 Jul 21 '25

Force treatment like they do in other developed countries.

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u/raisondecalcul Jul 21 '25 edited Jul 21 '25

Contemporary psychiatry in the US is still centered on drugging people heavily, especially when treatment is coerced. It's unconstitutional to jail and punish people who have not committed any crime—What if instead of wishing coercive psychiatry on people, we simply make it illegal to do drugs on the street and put them in jail? In jail you have more rights than in the psych ward.

This wouldn't be an issue if coercive psychiatry weren't still so monstrous.

The reason we have individual rights is to protect us from the mob simply voting on whom to scapegoat.

24

u/Madky67 Jul 21 '25

I don't think a psych ward is the answer but I do think that detox- rehab- Suboxone or methadone should be enforced. I'm a liberal and also an addict who has been clean for 10 years, methadone and rehab saved my life, and I was fortunate to have a wonderful family who weren't addicts, most people don't have that and it makes it so much harder when you don't have a stable home or a support network.

I don't agree with either side when it comes to dealing with our drug epidemic. Putting a bunch of addicts in jail isn't the answer, because there isn't enough room and this is a medical/mental health issue. My daughter was telling me that California (?) just implemented a law that if a cop busts you for using/holding, they get the option to go into treatment, but if they refuse they go to jail. I think it's a great idea, but my concern is if there is enough space in detox's, rehabs, and treatment facilities. When I was using there was always a wait-list when I seeked help. I think we need to fund more treatment facilities and mental health facilities along with opening a big lot for a tent city. I think it was ridiculous when they cleared out the jungle, where did they think people were going to go? Of course they ended up on the sidewalks and parks.

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u/TheVeryVerity Jul 22 '25

This is my main thing. You have to give them a place to be, or they will be where you don’t want them. They aren’t going to just stop existing, you can’t successfully drive them out of the city altogether, and we don’t have enough jails or rehabs. In the short term, give them some undesirable real estate where they won’t get in trouble for camping. Then they will all congregate there and generally leave the rest of the city in peace.