Should they revert and spread disease and shift the problem elsewhere? Personally I think they should have a return price paid to clean them up like a can deposit. Abusers or other elements who make a living of it would clean it up in short order.
Something like that might work, or some other incentive like food.
My point was though that in trying to solve one small facet of this problem, we've created another, because we aren't dealing with the underlying issue, which of course is the using itself.
I don't have the answers. I have some theories, like adding/expanding treatment centres, perhaps making them mandatory for people that have been revived or picked-up KO'd multiple times in public places or caught repeatedly for theft? I think providing a way up and out for people who can and will avail themselves of those services is far more likely to reduce the number of users than making sure they don't die via distributed narcan, clean needles and a place to shoot up, which achieves the opposite. That's what I meant in the OP when I said a hand-up rather than a hand-out. No, not everybody is going to succeed in coming and staying clean, but at least provide the opportunity and support necessary.
I also think that sending an addict to jail to hang-out with rapists, murderers, thugs...etc, isn't likely to improve their chances of turning their life around, which I'm sure most will agree. That's why I think some form of dedicated treatment facility that's more like a hospital (like our old Nichols building was) is more appropriate.
It's been noted by a few here that at a certain point, people will start taking matters into their own hands, and we are seeing that locally. There's one guy who is literally beating the crap out of them when he catches them. It's not much of a stretch to go from that to the three S's.
As I said, I don't believe I have the answers, but I'd welcome a trial run of a dedicated treatment facility in one of these places to see how that works compared to what we are doing now.
