Transit stations it seems act like sort zones for social abandonment.
And for those who keep failing to move on their “happy path” who are repeatedly overdosing (get strike policy legislation passed on this), psychotic, gravely disabled, obviously unable to care for themselves, there really does need to be an *urgent* as in same-day due-process pathway into mandated care.
I do not mean bring back the loony bins.
I do not mean mass institutionalization.
And not free housing for all the homeless.
More like policy with real triggers: “You are literally dying in public and cannot currently choose safety, so society has to step in with a managed care bed and maybe some sleepy time medicine, for now”
Public spaces do have to be defended.
This part gets dismissed too easily by the “but their autonomy” crowd.
Sidewalks and train station have to be usable by workers, kids, elderly people, tourists, and everyone.
Compassion for addiction does not require surrendering civic space.
In fact, it creates an image of the opposite. Like we see them dying there, but nothing can be done. Like…what kind of so-called society do we actually live in, for real?! The dystopic vibes caused by these individuals can be neutralized by over half with mandatory managed care if [conditons] are met.
And once someone is stable, society should ofter the least restrictive setting they can actually survive in, with fast escalation if they start dying again.
That's the ethical line.
Not "lock them away forever."
Not "let them rot because freedom."
Not "free apartment, no expectations."
Not "jailtime because broken."
More like:
You have been witnessed experiencing repeated life-threatening impairment in public x number of times, and the current pattern shows that you cannot reliably choose safety. That does not mean you are being discarded, punished, or locked away forever. It means society has a duty to intervene before watching you die in a train station, underpass, sidewalk, or emergency room cycle.
You are being placed into managed healthcare environment with structure, and a path back to autonomy.
You will remain in this level of care until you are medically stable, no longer acutely psychotic or gravely disabled, consistently able to meet basic self-care needs, engaged with treatment, and supported by a realistic discharge plan.
Once those conditions are met, you will move to the least restrictive appropriate setting: residential treatment, supervised recovery housing, assisted outpatient treatment, a halfway house, or independent living with case management, depending on your demonstrated stability.
Autonomy returns in stages as capacity returns. If you remain stable, the restrictions decrease. If you repeatedly relapse into overdose, psychosis, grave disability, or public life-threatening self-neglect, care escalates again to more structured settings until reintegration is possible.
The goal is not permanent confinement.
And the ultimate goal is to transition them out of the public legal system, (obviously we gotta pass some laws or sign some order that mandates all of this, with the alternative being criminal charges for extreme and repeated noncompliance) not become even more forever enmeshed in the system.
The goal is survival, stabilization, accountability, and a real path back to freedom. And getting obviously extremely unwell human beings who are on a very public path to their own demise off of our fucking sidewalks and stairwells, it ain’t cute.