San Francisco, The Land of the Lotus-Eaters

Article here. Excerpt:

'In Homer’s great epic the Odyssey, the land of the Lotus-Eaters is a place where inhabitants and wayward sailors live in drug-induced states. In this place, men forget about families and responsibilities and drift into a never-ending delirium supported by a never-ending supply of narcotics. The only escape is being forcefully taken away, kicking and screaming, as addicted sailors beg for the sweet lotus. Something we recognize today as heroine and opioid dependency.

San Francisco, the city by the bay, is America’s very own land of the Lotus-Eaters, where thousands go to imbibe in drugs, and many go on to die. “City-funded service providers supervise people smoking fentanyl and meth they buy from drug dealers across the street,” according to a story written by Michael Shellenberger and later confirmed by the San Francisco Chronicle.

San Francisco has a long history of a place men go to die. In the 1980s and 1990s, HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) ravaged young men and was the leading cause of death for men between the ages of 25-44, reaching a peak of 2,332 in San Francisco in 1992. Although people became deeply concerned regarding the HIV crisis and deaths, the Department of Health failed to create an Office of Men’s Health as it openly created an Office of Women’s Health in 1991; a program with a mission to “provide national leadership and coordination to improve the health of women and girls through policy, education, and innovative programs.” Despite the male gender-gap in so many areas of well-being, no such efforts have been made on behalf of men and boys.'