by Gary C. Gibson

Created on: December 24, 2009

If an individual is not using legal or illegal drugs before becoming homeless they are less likely to start using them than someone with housing. So far as I know illegal and illegal drugs cost money to use and homeless people prevalently haven't much of that.

Yuppies in America and others of substantial means were notorious for cocaine and other illegal drug use. Ravers using ecstasy and other trendy drugs were a phenomena of youth culture and young adulthood, while adolescents and older teenagers that used illegal drugs usually had housing. Such trendy people would find homelessness uncool. The soup kitchens and cardboard box crowd of people are not fashionable to hang out with.

Many homeless people are recently released from prison. Those people tended not to be homeless before being convicted, and out of parole they may find it difficult to get work so they migrate to shelters and soup kitchens occasionally. There are itinerant travelers that use homeless shelters as a part of a wandering working lifestyle-temporary inexpensive housing and work is fairly difficult to get in the U.S.A. and homelessness may be the gap filler for those not fortunate enough to have regular solid work and the kind of capital required for nearly quarter million dollars ordinary American homes. If Americans were a little more comprehensive they might not wonder how some people could go through life without being a quarter millionaire. In a credit and deficit oriented economic such failures of understanding are understandable.

Some Americans are homeless yet resolute, even religiously oriented poor on their own mission perhaps in futility to improve the quality of their life. yet even though they may invest years inn the effort homelessness is just the way it is. A myriad stories and circumstances abound to explain why someone may remain poor that do not involve legal or illegal drug use.

So there are also chronically injured individuals. What about the old rodeo guy that basically ruined his body with physical injuries, spent all his winnings long ago and is now a wreck. If he uses marijuana occasionally for chronic pain is that a bad thing? If someone with a heart condition use marijuana (I don't know anyone that does, this is simply for purposes of argument) to reduce stress and not go over the red line of muscle damage should I oppose that? Many individuals that are homeless have injuries or illnesses of various sorts that cannot be fixed on the budget of the poor.

The United States

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