Hacker Newsnew | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submitlogin

Well, legally, many of those things are crime, and so people call it crime.

But public safety is more than worries about being violently attacked. If you have someone passed out on a narrow sidewalk, you then have to walk into the street to get past them: that's unsafe, and even worse for people with mobility issues. If someone relieves themself in a public space or throws away needles on the street, that's a matter of hygiene and disease.

And although opioid users aren't going to be violent, there are other drugs. Am I allowed to be concerned for my own safety when someone is smoking meth on the bus?



> Well, legally, many of those things are crime

I suppose that not everyone has abandoned the old drug-warrior mindset yet, absurd and useless as that philosophy has proved to be.

> Am I allowed to be concerned for my own safety when someone is smoking meth on the bus?

That certainly is a different situation, and I would feel concerned about that too: but meth has been a problem for decades, while the phrase "drug zombies" has only come into use during the fentanyl era, when you now see people tipping over and passing out and otherwise shambling around unable to fully control their bodies. Those people are out of it, unable to do much of anything but breathe (usually). The fear is really unwarranted.


> The fear is really unwarranted.

Here's the deal: you have no right to tell people how to feel.


When someone's fear comes from ignorance, what kindness is it to leave them in the dark?


CS Lewis once observed: "Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive"


I suppose it's a good thing, then, that I have no power over you - beyond that which you may have created de novo, by choosing to care about my opinion - and therefore have no means of exercising tyranny.




Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: