Free Republic

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — President Trump is vowing a new approach to getting homeless people off the streets by forcibly moving those living outside into large camps while mandating mental health and addiction treatment — an aggressive departure from the nation's leading homelessness policy, which for decades has prioritized housing as the most effective way to combat the crisis. "Our once-great cities have become unlivable, unsanitary nightmares," Mr. Trump said in a presidential campaign video. "For those who are severely mentally ill and deeply disturbed, we will bring them to mental institutions, where they belong, with the goal of reintegrating them...

For years, Oklahoma lead the nation in prescription painkiller abuse according to SAMHSA. Oklahoma and the nation set out to do something but it was almost totally "supply-side", regulatory and law enforcement oriented to reduce the supply of opioid tablets on the street. These measures were much needed but they did nothing to help the estimated 245,000 prescription painkiller abusers in Oklahoma, nor prevent new entries into the problem, "demand-side". Demand-side interventions are treatment and prevention initiatives. Why are demand-side interventions important? Addiction to opiates is the most powerful addiction. If you shut off supply dramatically, without demand interventions, you...