![]() The city’s rising rate of homelessness, which largely affects Oakland’s Black residents, has been attributed to the pandemic, structural racism, and a lack of affordable housing.ĭoctors who treat unhoused people and people with substance use disorder have noticed a correlation between meth use and homelessness. The size of Oakland’s unhoused population nearly doubled in the five years between 20, surpassing 5,000 last spring. It also helps to curb hunger, and balances out the sedative effects of other commonly abused substances like opioids or benzodiazepines. ![]() When an unhoused person is living on the street or in an encampment, the stimulant offers a form of protection through heightened awareness. In areas with large unhoused populations, like Oakland, meth serves a utilitarian purpose. “It isn’t incorrect to assume that substance use is a factor, but it is incorrect to assume that substance use is the main factor because the main factor is a lack of affordable housing,” she said. Siu ties that pattern to the cost-of-living crisis, although she emphasized that there is no single reason that people become unhoused. “Many people who use substances like methamphetamine on the streets have actually started using because they became unhoused,” she said. She said Oakland’s meth crisis has gotten worse in recent years. Katie O’Bryant of West Oakland Punks with Lunch helps people with substance use disorders stay safe and access treatment services. Sidney Siu, a case manager with Downtown Streets Team, an outreach and employment placement organization for people experiencing homelessness in Oakland and other California cities, explained this phenomenon. Rather, some people experiencing homelessness start to use meth because they become unhoused and are looking for a tool to help them confront the challenges that come with living unsheltered. But this doesn’t match up with what health workers see among many of the homeless in cities like Oakland. One common assumption about homelessness is that meth abuse pushes individuals onto the street, causing their homelessness. Meth use is nuanced and complex, especially for people experiencing homelessness People who experience homelessness not only find practical utility in meth’s stimulating effects, and therefore are at a greater risk of developing methamphetamine use disorder, but they also confront significant barriers when it comes to accessing health care and treatment for substance use disorder. The effects of these drugs-which include rising behavioral health issues as well as a startling surge in overdoses attributed to methamphetamine use-are especially detrimental for members of Oakland’s unhoused population who use meth. Our whole drug supply is becoming more powerful, more dangerous, and more harmful.” As The Oaklandside previously reported, the rise of unprecedentedly-potent meth and fentanyl has caused increasing harm to the physical and mental health of thousands of people in Alameda County in recent years. Said O’Bryant, “We just have way stronger meth than we used to have ten years ago. Now, poly-substance users most commonly rely on the combination of fentanyl and methamphetamine, a synthetic sedative-stimulant pairing that is much stronger, and more dangerous, than the heroin-cocaine amalgam of two decades ago. However, the combinations of drugs that O’Bryant encounters on the streets today have evolved since the early 2000s. “People have favorites, people have necessities, and have recreational things.” “You will so rarely find somebody who is a puritan with their drugs,” she said. She explained that in her work on the streets of Oakland, she sees a lot of poly-substance use-the term that health workers use to describe someone who routinely uses multiple substances. Today, O’Bryant works in harm reduction as the Outreach Coordinator for West Oakland Punks with Lunch, a group that provides food, clean needles, and social services to Oakland’s unhoused population, which includes many people who use drugs. All the dope came with coke,” she said, recalling that small balls of black tar heroin would be sold alongside little baggies of powdered cocaine. “When I first started doing dope, they used to sell one-on-ones in the mission.
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