Starting the day with horror and incredulity

There is a homeless guy who sits outside my building every morning. He says g’day to the people he recognises. I always say good morning. I’ve noticed other people sometimes stop to chat at length. He begs. Lately, he’s been getting a bit more insistent on the begging front. I hope he’s doing ok.

This morning, after walking into the building, I got into the lift with an older man who I’ve seen quite a number of times around the building, but who I don’t actually know.

He turned to me, his eyes wide with horror and disgust. “Did you know that man out the front is a drug addict? He doesn’t have schizophrenia or anything … he injects drugs, methadone or something … I’ve just been to the pharmacist and they told me!”

Now, leaving aside the patient confidentiality issues with the pharmacist giving out that kind of information (and I am going to go and have a yell at the pharmacist later about that!), (1) methadone is not injected [ETA: well, I got that wrong – see Robbo’s comment below] (and if he’s on methadone, he doesn’t need money for it and also, it suggests he’s “doing something” about his “problem”, which is what I assume people like my interlocutor want to happen); and (2) poor mental health, homelessness and drug use often go hand in hand. Oh, and (3) who the fuck are we to judge?

I put (2) to my friend (that’s sarcasm) in the lift (going with (1) and (3) could have been career-limiting moves) and said in as reasonable a voice as I could muster: “But mental illness and drug use often go together. Sometimes people are trying to use the drugs to deal with the illness.”

He blustered on, even standing in the lift door (his floor was before mine) while I stood there, mute, as I couldn’t think of anything to say other than: “you fucking judgemental douche.” Which I didn’t think would be a good idea.

So I’m having it out here.

Let’s start with:

1. Drug use is none of our business, and is not precisely the greatest moral crime.

2. If you choose to give money to someone, whether that be to someone who is begging or to someone who you buy something from, your control stops there. It’s then their choice what to do with that money. Including: buying drugs.

3. There is a huge co-incidence of homelessness and poor mental health (although “[i]t is important to note that most homeless people are not mentally ill”).

4. It is not uncommon to see drug use amongst people who are homeless and mentally ill. (And who can say they wouldn’t use drugs if they were homeless, regardless of mental health?)

5. People deserve our support, not our judgement.

NB: the pages I’ve linked above are from the Australian Federal Department of Health and Ageing. They suggest that drug use is a mental illness in and of itself. I don’t think this is necessarily the case, but the pages are a useful resource.

If you choose to comment, please keep the following in mind: note that I am referring to drug use generally, not drug abuse. I am using the word “use” very, very carefully. I don’t think that drug use, even abuse (whatever that actually means), is a moral crime or problem. I agree that drug use may, for some people, be problematic (this also applies to prescription and other legal drugs, not just illegal drugs). However, I am not in a position to judge whether someone else’s use of a drug is problematic (note that I am STILL not using the word “abuse”). Neither are you, unless that use is directly affecting you, or you are their treating health professional.

The man who sits outside my building may have an incidence of drug use which is problematic. I don’t know. But even if his drug use is problematic, I’d say that his bigger problem is that he’s homeless and that he is not receiving adequate support from the State and the community.