Or desperation that comes from using drugs that require needles. They may have started w/opioids but once hooked they end up resorting to needles for heroin or fentanyl. I never knew of anyone using needles in my youth. If you’re willing to stick a needle in your body for a high, you’re willing to do a lot of other things w/negative consequences. It could be prostitution, stealing, reusing shared needles or sleeping, eating or living in unsanitary places.

The longer this epidemic goes on the more I believe my VT Economics professor Dr. Mandelstamm back in 1980 was right about the only way to win the war against drugs was to legalize all drugs & give them to users provided they also seek consulting & use the drugs in a safe place. Use the money saved from law enforcement, incarceration & reduced crime & increased productivity to help people become non users. It’s working in Portugal already, while the USA continues to lose way to many people while fighting the war against drugs w/no end in sight, full jails, rampant prostitution & crime. Not to mention the harm the USA’s drug use does to other countries.