Homeless people need housing, not jail time for drug possession
We are all familiar with the old saying that insanity is defined as doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.
Yet, the wisdom in this proverb seems to escape most of our state legislators, who consistently try to solve nearly every problem plaguing Arizonans with some kind of crackdown or restriction — regardless of how ineffective such measures have proven.
More than a half-century of failed policies under the “War on Drugs” should be enough to illustrate the ineffectiveness of punitive approaches.
Yet Arizona lawmakers persist in proposing that we can arrest and incarcerate our way out of whatever problems we face.
Arresting people for drugs is not 'help'
A recent example of this is House Bill 2782, an anti-homelessness measure introduced by Rep. Matt Gress, a Republican who represents the Phoenix area.
While containing some positive provisions, such as the creation of a Homeless Shelter and Services Fund, the bill would mean harsher criminal penalties for those possessing drugs within “drug-free homeless service zones” near shelters, as well as within shelters themselves.
The largest homeless shelters already have policies prohibiting possessing or using drugs on premise. Violators lose the right to the shelter.
To impose greater barriers will hurt, not help, the efforts to get more people to take or stay on the path of sobriety.
Gress told The Arizona Republic that his bill is designed to give unhoused people “a bit of help and structure along the way” to a more stable life.
But it seems unlikely that many unhoused people would consider prosecution and incarceration for substance use “a bit of help.”
Addiction itself does not cause homelessness
I know from my experience as a career law enforcement officer and substance abuse counselor that criminalizing people who misuse alcohol or drugs is not helpful in their journey to becoming whole.
The idea that cracking down on substance abuse will solve homelessness is based on the erroneous belief that addiction itself causes homelessness. People who work to assist the unhoused know this is rarely the case.
Gress: We must offer drug treatment before housing
If lawmakers truly want to address this problem, punishment is not the only tool at their disposal.
During the last decade, Houston has moved more than 25,000 unhoused people directly into apartments and houses without these kinds of threats, according to a New York Times report.
The overwhelming majority of them have remained housed after two years of placement. Houston’s “housing first” approach has helped reduce homelessness in the region by 63% since 2011, and there is every reason to believe Arizona could follow the example.
It’s time we faced the fact that people are not homeless because they are criminals or addicts, but for a variety of reasons that are often beyond their control.
The primary issue is their lack of housing, not substance abuse.
Measures like HB 2782 that criminalize the unhoused are counterproductive and should not be enacted.
Detective Sgt. J. Gary Nelson served 27 years as a patrol officer, a burglary and theft detective and sergeant with the Scottsdale Police Department. After retiring from the force in 2004, he earned a degree in counseling and worked with substance abuse clients for four years. Reach him at garynaz258@gmail.com.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Homeless people need housing, not jail time for drugs
