drug addiction

Missing Person This is 30-year-old Samuel Michael Evans. He grew up in Kenmore, WA and was a star athlete. But then injuries and other health issues started piling up, which opened the door to oxycontin and other illicit drugs. Look at these before and after photos. Evans’ drug addiction and fallout with family led him to homelessness on the streets of Everett. But he always stayed in touch with his dad. Until he went radio silent this past year. Friends and family now believe he might be roaming the streets of Seattle, possibly in the Belltown neighborhood. If you see Evans, his parents are offering a cash reward. DM me if you have any information and I will pass it Read More ›

Taking on the Homeless Industrial Complex Battlefield Addiction and We Heart Seattle made a huge splash this weekend, raising thousands of dollars for sober living beds in the Seattle area. For drug addicts, that means a place to go for treatment and recovery instead of being given more taxpayer-funded meth pipes and fentanyl foil. This is the start of a powerful partnership to take on the homeless industrial complex and confront lies being peddled by the “harm reduction” lobby in America. Discovery Institute was a proud sponsor of this event.

Our friends at We Heart Seattle are doing incredible work transforming lives. The testimonial below features recovering addict Stephen Dowd, who was found living in a tent before We Heart Seattle helped him get into treatment. We Heart Seattle is modeling what actually works to rescue people from homelessness. “Everybody else is focused on getting somebody housed,” says We Heart Seattle’s Tim Emerson. “I’m more focused on getting somebody better and then housed.”

Human Dumping Ground I stepped away from Seattle drug den coverage for just one week. I thought maybe things were getting better in hot spots like Little Saigon. I was wrong. It’s worse than ever and the city has zero lasting solutions. The current plan is not working.

Hopes Dwindle The notorious DESC Navigation Center in Seattle’s Little Saigon is now closed. Neighbors hope this move will keep away crime and open-air drug use. But people are now camping on the lawn and setting fires outside this former homeless shelter. Will Mayor Bruce Harrell step up to help or will this abandoned building be seized by the addicts? Encounter with DESC Staff One of my many encounters with DESC staff. They don’t like to be exposed.

From “Doom Loop” to “Boom Loop,” San Francisco could be turning the corner on all the crime, chaos and death. A new mayor and new approach to the homeless drug crisis could be the game changer. Here’s part 1 of our series in the Bay Area. Parts of San Francisco have been described as being stuck in a perpetual doom loop. A never-ending pattern of crime, chaos, and death. But some of the most problematic neighborhoods in the city could be getting ready to break out of this vicious cycle. “Is the Tenderloin looking better?” I ask a local resident. “Oh yeah, it is,” he responds. That’s because new mayor Daniel Lurie is on a mission to reclaim what was Read More ›

Senior Fellow Dr. Robert Marbut and actor Billy Baldwin appeared on Fox News Radio’s Brian Kilmeade Show to discuss their new documentary, “Fentanyl: Death Incorporated.” Marbut and Baldwin discuss how they got involved with the creation of the documentary, the origin of the fentanyl crisis, and the scope of the problem. “The stat that really brings it home,” says Marbut, “[is] more people have died of fentanyl in the last five years than the last hundred years of war for Americans.” Find out more about “Fentanyl: Death Incorporated,” and where you can watch it, at fentanyldeathincorporated.com.

I’ve learned in my stays at homeless shelters one clear lesson: how hard it is to offer true help. Jeff Cook, chief program officer at Springs Rescue Mission (SRM), wrote this in his dissertation: “When reviewing the reason clients are homeless, it was apparent that they all had some traumatic experiences that caused them to be homeless. This trauma could have begun in many forms: the death of a parent or family member, the victim of a crime, human or drug trafficking, or the loss of a job due to illness.” Such stressful events shatter senses of security. They leave people feeling endangered by normal life, unstable even when placed in stable housing. A faith in Christ can be a Read More ›

New A notorious Seattle drug camp could be getting shut down today. It’s right next to Lake Washington Girls Middle School and it’s turned into a chop shop full of stolen bikes and motorcycles. But it’s taken months for the city to respond and neighbors say this is unacceptable. For nearly two months complaints have been pouring into the city about open-air drug use, warming fires, and trash overwhelming several streets in Beacon Hill. Most of the chaos is coming from this encampment at the corner of 22nd Ave South and South Walker Street. A notorious hot spot for broken RVs, tents, and all kinds of illegal activity. When I point out a black Hyundai, one local tells me, “That’s Read More ›

Two weeks ago I noted how Colorado Springs city officials a decade ago handed a $3 million federal Housing and Urban Development (HUD) grant to Springs Rescue Mission (SRM) leaders. Later, City Hall gave $3 million more. That was because SRM, an explicitly Christian organization, was ready to help homeless wanderers in Colorado Springs, and no one else was ready. Strict church-state separationists didn’t like it, but city housing executive Steve Posey noted that the HUD Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) contract detailed public benefits: “SRM would build a commercial kitchen; they would build an overnight shelter for several hundred people; they would build a day center with showers and laundry facilities. Nowhere in those contracts, or any ongoing contracts Read More ›