XPost: alt.society.homeless, alt.abuse.offender, talk.politics.guns   
   XPost: sac.politics, alt.fan.rush-limbaugh   
   From: leroysoetoro@americans-first.com   
      
   https://ciceroinstitute.org/blog/housing-first-says-ok-to-drugs-   
   prosecutors-should-say-no/   
      
   Advocates of Housing First have begun to push back against the direction   
   of federal homelessness policy in the second Trump Administration.   
   However, regulatory reforms take time and, with homelessness and overdoses   
   at crisis levels nationwide, lives are at stake.   
      
   Following the closure of the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness   
   earlier this year, the Administration is widely expected to continue to   
   restructure the homelessness programs of the U.S. Department of Housing   
   and Urban Development (HUD) and reprioritize programs that require   
   treatment and sobriety over more permissive Housing First policies.   
      
   The federal government has a powerful tool available to it to make   
   sweeping changes to the most dangerous elements of Housing First   
   immediately: the so-called federal Crack House Statute. That statute was   
   Congress’s response to the crack epidemic of the 1980s, in which landlords   
   and club owners were complicit in the deadly spread of crack cocaine in   
   buildings they owned and operated. The crack house statute opens landlords   
   and businesses to prosecution by U.S. attorneys, with penalties of up to   
   $2 million in civil fines and 20 years in prison.   
      
   The crack house statute offers a unique avenue for the Trump   
   Administration to promptly end the disturbing category of policies and   
   programs known as harm reduction. While some specific harm reduction   
   policies are based on robust scientific evidence, the broader harm   
   reduction philosophy and many programs that operate under it are   
   dangerous.   
      
   Harm reduction is rooted fundamentally in the belief that people have a   
   right to use drugs. The philosophy prioritizes practices that destigmatize   
   drug use, eliminate prohibitions against drugs, and assist people in using   
   drugs in ways that advocates view as safer than others.   
      
   Harm reduction is the core principle of Housing First programs, which   
   provide housing to homeless individuals without any requirement for   
   sobriety or engagement with treatment or services.   
      
   The harm reduction practices of Housing First service providers open them   
   up to potential violations of the federal Crack House Statute for   
   permitting drug use in their housing units as a matter of official or   
   unofficial policy. If Housing First providers have received complaints   
   from tenants about drug use or trafficking in permanent supportive housing   
   units and failed to take any reasonable actions expected by a landlord or   
   service provider to stop the activity, then the providers could be   
   prosecuted by U.S. attorneys.   
      
   In some states, providers could also be prosecuted under state law. For   
   example, this year Utah codified its own law against “drug-involved   
   premises,” which includes buildings that allow use or manufacture of   
   drugs, or which are specifically used for a supervised drug consumption   
   site—one of the preferred programs of harm reduction activists. Violations   
   are a second-degree felony.   
      
   More states should prohibit drug-involved premises, as well as create   
   drug-free homeless service zones. Drug-free homeless service zones are   
   based on drug-free school zone policies, which enhance penalties for   
   trafficking or using drugs within a defined radius of schools. Drug-free   
   homeless service zones are similar, except in the Cicero Institute’s   
   model, they enhance penalties for traffickers as well as service providers   
   who knowingly permit drug use in their facilities, without increasing   
   penalties for users themselves. This approach rightfully focuses on   
   offenders who are taking advantage of vulnerable homeless people or are   
   negligent in their care.   
      
   Enforcement of laws against permissive environments for drug use is not   
   just about enforcing the law for its own sake—it’s a matter of life and   
   death. A recent randomized control trial of a Housing First program was   
   characterized by researchers as a success, but there is a major problem   
   with that conclusion: the Housing First group had a 50 percent higher   
   death rate than the control group. This fatal evidence, combined with the   
   fact that overdoses are the leading cause of death among homeless people   
   in many states, highlights the urgency of curbing harm reduction policies   
   that fail to take drug use seriously. It is time for prosecutors at all   
   levels of government to increase their vigilance against policies and   
   programs like Housing First that endanger the lives of the most vulnerable   
   people in our communities.   
      
      
   --   
   November 5, 2024 - Congratulations President Donald Trump.  We look   
   forward to America being great again.   
      
   We live in a time where intelligent people are being silenced so that   
   stupid people won't be offended.   
      
   Every day is an IQ test. Some pass, some, not so much.   
      
   Thank you for cleaning up the disasters of the 2008-2017, 2020-2024 Obama   
   / Biden / Harris fiascos, President Trump.   
      
   Under Barack Obama's leadership, the United States of America became the   
   The World According To Garp.  Obama sold out heterosexuals for Hollywood   
   queer liberal democrat donors.   
      
   --- SoupGate-DOS v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)