Homelessness and drug addiction are a growing problem in cities all over the country, but perhaps most visibly in the northwest, where progressive leaders have allowed the problem to flourish.

In Seattle, the Democrat mayor is proposing to give homeless drug addicts ‘gift cards’ they can use to access treatment services.

This is what passes for solution policy in blue America.

The Post Millennial reports:

Mayor of Seattle wants to solve drug crisis with gift cards

Seattle Democratic Mayor Bruce Harrell unveiled his fentanyl and downtown activation plan on Monday to combat the massive drug crisis plaguing the city and even included a pilot research program to offer gift cards to encourage drug addicts to accept treatment services.

589 people died due to overdoses in Seattle in 2022, the majority attributed to fentanyl and meth, according to city data. 708 people in King County died from fentanyl in 2022, an average of 1.94 a day.

As of March 15, 172 people in King County have already died of an overdose involving fentanyl, an average of 2.32 a day…

Seattle residents and business owners have said the drug crisis on the streets is scaring people and businesses away from the downtown core. Addicts regularly refuse to accept offers of shelter or services so Harrell’s plan also includes providing low-dollar gift cards to incentivize addicts to get treatment.

The plan also called for creating more resources for people dealing with addiction such as a “contingency management” program to keep overdose survivors clean and increase access to overdose prevention medication like Narcan, which is being distributed through new methods including vending machines in King County.

It’s amazing that this is an American city.

DOWNTOWN DISASTER: On Saturday, addicts were using meth and fentanyl in front of children and tourists. One young man even overdosed! Seattle Police(@SeattlePD) officers had some on hand and saved his life. #Seattle pic.twitter.com/txgvFTCLnT

— Jonathan Choe Journalist (Seattle) (@choeshow) April 17, 2023

Gift cards are not going to solve this problem.

It’s completely out of control.

The post Seattle Mayor Wants to Solve Drug Crisis by Giving Homeless Addicts ‘Gift Cards’ for Treatment Services appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

Couple attacked in Chicago/Fox News Interview

 

The Gateway Pundit reported on hundreds of teens rioting in the streets near Millennium Park Saturday night and the attack on a woman in the entry of a building.

Dozens of teens surrounded the woman, cornered her in a doorway, and attacked.

While reports focused on the young woman, and she appears alone in the video posted to social media, she spoke with Fox News to discuss the attack and revealed that she was with her boyfriend, who faced a more brutal attack not seen in the video.

The two were also robbed of their valuables and even their shoes.

Ashley: I just recently saw the video.  But we were just downtown in Chicago just trying to shop, you know, trying to get some food. And we were walking down the street and there was a really big group of guys, of people…

DJ: Girls..

Ashley: Yeah, guys and girls. And DJ had my hand and he was trying to lead me through the crowd of people.  They pushed him, they pushed me. As soon as they pushed me I told DJ ‘Hey, they just shoved me’ and he asked them ‘Yo, don’t shove her? Who shoved  her.’

And as soon as he said that, everything went crazy. You know, they said they were going to kill us. They turned around and, you know, started fighting, you know.

I got pushed down to the ground and the whole group of people went to DJ, not me…I have a lot less injuries than he does because I was more of a bystander than anything. But everyone went for him and it ended up in the middle of the street. They were jumping him in the middle of the street. It got pretty bad.

Fox reporter Sandra Smith asks about the extent of the injuries.

DJ: As you can see, I don’t know if you can see or not, I have a black eye. My face is messed up. My shoulder is pretty fu**ed up, it’s out of place. My back, sore. My nose…I don’t know what’s wrong with my nose, it’s swollen. I don’t know what’s going on with it, I’ll get it checked out soon.

Smith: Do you believe….that you two were targeted in this attack?  Or do you believe this was random?

DJ: It was very random.  Because all we were doing…we had just left Nordstrom…and we were looking for somewhere to eat…and we saw that group and they just thought they was tough…and didn’t want to move out the way, just out there being stupid…young and dumb…trying to prove a point for nothing. So that’s how that happened.

Ashley: It was absolutely random.  We didn’t know anyone, we were just trying to walk through a group of people.

Smith: And you were also robbed? Right? Did you have things taken from you Ashley?

DJ: Yes. Both of our pairs of shoes.  My Yeezys…her sandals, her Apple watch, my hat.  We had just bought the sh**…

Ashley: Both our phones.

DJ: Glasses..her glasses….both our phones. Cops drove right by it…act like they didn’t see anything.

Ashley: While DJ was getting jumped in the middle of the street…that’s when I was getting up off the ground…that’s when I saw the cops drive right by…they almost had to avoid the collision to get past us…but they just drove by the incident in the middle of the street.

Smith: I’ve only got a few seconds left, but a Good Samaritan picked you up and took you to the hospital, correct?

DJ: Yes, yes. Her name was Lenore.

Ashley: God bless her. She gave us shoes, she took us home, she took us to the hospital.

DJ: Her husband as well.

Ashley: Thank you so much. I don’t know where we would have been without her.

Watch the interview below.

WATCH: Couple attacked and robbed by a mob of young people in downtown Chicago speak out for the first time.

They join us now to describe what happened in their own words and thank the Good Samaritan that took them to the hospital.#AmericaReports pic.twitter.com/sCFEb6Epg8

— America Reports (@AmericaRpts) April 18, 2023

The post Update: Chicago Woman Brutalized by Mob Describes Harrowing Experience, Boyfriend Faced More Vicious Attack “They Said They Were Going to Kill Us” appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.