BRATTLEBORO — If people are ever going to get off the street, their drug use has to be addressed.
Not giving panhandlers money will not help.
These people are desperate and will do whatever they have to do for their drugs.
I understand that people do not want to enable drug use in the community.
I agree.
The problem is that there is no alternative. If the Brattleboro Retreat worked, these people would not be addicts. Many of them are in and out of the place several times a year.
If the current organizations were able to help, the problem would not be getting worse.
There is a solution, Brattleboro, but it will take a willingness to break out of the old box and consider new ideas.