PPTFH Addresses Drug-Use Among the Homeless Population at Recent Meeting

By MAGNOLIA LAFLEUR | Reporter

The Pacific Palisades Task Force on Homelessness held its first meeting of the year on January 24 with guest speaker, Dr. Christine Grella, the director of UCLA Integrated Substance Abuse Programs.

Hosted by Sharon Browning, co-chair of PPTFH, the meeting discussed the correlation between drug use and the increase of the homeless population in the city of Los Angeles, specifically in the Palisades.

Grella shared data that reflected the rapid increase in addiction in the United States as it relates to the proliferation of synthetic drugs like meth and fentanyl. She shared that the drug epidemic began between 1999 and 2000, with the increase of prescription opioids that were being given for medicinal use.

“Prescription opioids predominated as the cause as the most frequent type of substance associated with drug overdose prior to about the mid-2015 along with heroin increasing when policy related to over prescribing were tightened up.” Grella said during the meeting.

According to data from the Center for Health Impact Evaluation at the LA County Department of Public Health, methamphetamine overdoses are the number one cause of death to homeless people.

Grella explained why methamphetamine is the drug of choice, according to those in the field.

“[Individuals experiencing homelessness] will commonly say they use it because it helps them function. That it helps them stay alert while on the streets—to protect themselves from theft or assault,” Grella said. “Part of the addiction is the euphoria and the pleasure but there’s also a functional aspect that they may perceive to be beneficial. Part of resolving and going to treatment is trying to learn new behaviors that are healthy and provide the functional needs of the individual.”

Many of the homeless individuals using these substances tend to be too agitated and disoriented to fall in line with structured treatment centers and many of them, according to service providers, are “not ready” to go to a formal treatment center.

Grella said “meeting people where they are” may be the best solution through the means of creating pre-treatment “safe spaces” that will create a “cascade of care” framework that begins with front-end pre-treatment, and continues with outreach, engagement, formal treatment, after-care, recovery support, and continual care.

“The most important thing to alleviate these issues, is to encourage greater understanding of the nature of addiction-related disorders, the various pathways by which individuals may seek services and, eventually, transition to recovery, and the role that community resources can play in the recovery process,” Grella said to the Palisadian- Post.

“We currently use a trauma-based approach but that may not be sufficient or as effective with these clients. More intense, intentional, daily interaction may be needed,” Browning said to the Post. “Additionally, we will need to be prepared to expect and deal with more unpredictable, aggressive behavior than we see with homeless people not using these drugs.”

While the goal of PPTFH remains to “move every person into some sort of permanent and supporting housing,” Browning said the challenge they face is the lack of housing that can assure everyone in the community—housed and unhoused—remains safe. She noted the most important thing to alleviate the homeless situation facing the community is for community members to attend PPTFH meetings to stay informed, as well as contributing any amount possible to funding their programs..

One of PPTFH’s 2022 goals is to raise the remaining $69,000 needed to hire a clinical case manager.

“We cannot do what we do without a committed, informed and engaged community,” Browning concluded. “There are so many people who do not know about PPTFH or about homelessness in the Palisades. Homelessness solutions cannot succeed without an informed, engaged supportive community.”