Why it matters to drug policy.
Friend,
Everyone deserves a safe place to sleep. Yet our government has failed to provide adequate housing, shelter, and services that our communities need. The result? A record number of people are homeless or forced to sleep outside because they have nowhere else to go. This has made public suffering like homelessness, overdose, and public drug use much more visible in places across the country.
Our communities deserve solutions to these concerns. But rather than addressing the root causes with needed services and support, politicians — and now the Supreme Court — are passing laws that punish people. Many cities are starting to arrest, jail, fine, and ticket people for “sleeping in public” even if they don’t have anywhere else to go. These inhumane laws were rightfully challenged before the Supreme Court in Johnson v. Grants Pass as violating the constitution’s ban on “cruel and unusual punishment”.
But the Supreme Court just ruled in favor of Grants Pass in this controversial case: [link removed] That means it doesn’t view these types of laws as “cruel and unusual punishment”, so cities and states are allowed to criminalize people who sleep outside regardless of whether they have somewhere else to go.
DPA stands in solidarity with fellow Americans and advocates like the National Homelessness Law Center that are outraged by today’s ruling [link removed]
Just like criminalizing people for drugs, criminalizing people for sleeping in public is doomed to fail, doesn’t address why people are homeless, and will make things worse.
It will simply cycle people in and out of jail when there isn’t enough housing, shelter, or services to meet their needs. Lawmakers are increasingly defaulting to ineffective responses like arrest, jail, tickets, and fines as a “quick fix” to these serious issues. But we know that punishing people for their suffering is a false promise of change. Saddling people who are already struggling with homelessness with fines that can add up to $1000 per week for sleeping outside is incredibly cruel. It won’t deter homelessness or improve the conditions on the street. In fact, jail, tickets, and fines have proven to make homelessness more visible and longer lasting. And criminal records block job and housing opportunities and place additional barriers in people’s way.
It will disproportionately impact people who use drugs. Many of the people forced to live on the streets are also struggling with addiction or using drugs to cope with the trauma of homelessness.
It will not address public drug use. Public drug use is the result of homelessness and people not having a place to go or not having the help they need. It's a symptom of an unmet need for support and housing which won’t be fixed by arresting and ticketing people for sleeping outside.
And it will be a backdoor to coercion. Just like we see with efforts to force people who use drugs into treatment, threats of arrest, jail, and tickets are also used to force people who are homeless into shelters even if they don’t feel safe. Coercing people into services, like drug treatment or shelters, does not address the underlying reasons people are on the street. Services are most effective when they are voluntary and made attractive to meet the full range of people’s needs.
Effective solutions center support, not criminalization. Elected officials need to implement policies that will address why people are on the street in the first place: people need permanent housing and interim humane shelter. They also need more street outreach, community-led crisis response teams, access to evidence-based services and supports, and overdose prevention centers to bring drug use indoors and connect people to care.
While it’s very upsetting to see the Supreme Court join the disturbing trend of harmful laws criminalizing some of our most vulnerable, it’s more important than ever for us to keep the pressure on state lawmakers to reject this dangerous precedent and do the right thing. An attack on the dignity and humanity of some of us is an attack on the dignity and humanity of all of us. That’s why we must stand together, across the issues and movements that connect us, to build a better future where all of us can thrive.
With hope,
Kassandra Frederique
Executive Director
Drug Policy Alliance
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