Last month, on Sept. 6, a 34-year-old homeless woman named Elizabeth Marie Torres was pronounced dead of a drug overdose at Scripps Mercy Hospital in Chula Vista. She’d been found unresponsive in a tent near an industrial park on the west side of town.
Deaths like Torres’ mostly wind up forgotten in a county where drugs kill hundreds on the street every year. Torres’ mother, a compact firebrand of a mom named Silvia Irigoyen-Adame, is determined not to let that happen.
Since her daughter died, Irigoyen-Adame has told Torres’ story three times in a row at Chula Vista city council meetings, most recently on Oct. 8. Each time, she highlights just how hard it is for homeless drug users to find help in a county where even officials acknowledge publicly-funded treatment options are woefully inadequate.
The county is gearing up to begin enforcing a recently passed state law that will make it easier for authorities to force chronic drug users into treatment even if they don’t want to go. Homeless advocates say, in addition to violating civil liberties, such laws are pointless when there aren’t enough treatment programs in the first place.
Another challenge: Torres’ death highlights a further obstacle to making progress. Homeless drug users’ lives are extraordinarily unstable, making them among the most challenging social service clients. Windows of opportunity to help are few and fleeting. A cumbersome, slow-moving, under-resourced treatment system is almost guaranteed to fail.
“It’s hard for parents to admit their child has a drug problem,” Irigoyen-Adame told Voice of San Diego. “I don’t know if me yelling and screaming and crying will make a difference. But something has to change.”
Politics Report: Trump Hangs Over a Supe Race
We’ve told you that one of the hottest races this year is the race between County Supervisor Terra Lawson-Remer and former mayor Kevin Faluconer.
Our resident politics nerd Scott Lewis has picked up on one thing that will drive the conversation in this campaign: “The district has a Democratic registration advantage and if Faulconer loses, the easiest answer to why is probably also the correct one: He won’t have been able to shake his connection to former President Donald Trump,” Lewis writes for the Politics Report.
The Politics Report is available exclusively to Voice of San Diego members. Do gain access, become a member here and subscribe to the weekly politics newsletter.
VOSD Podcast: On the latest episode, our hosts go through some wild mailers in the San Diego County Supervisor District 3 race. The campaigns for Supervisor Terra Lawson-Remer and former mayor Kevin Faulconer are not holding back.
Listen to the full episode here.
Sacramento Report: Another Bag Ban
Ten years after California set national precedent with a statewide plastic bag ban, the law is getting a do-over.
A new law by state Sen. Catherine Blakespear closed a loophole that allowed retailers to swap out flimsy plastic bags for thicker ones. The chunky bags were supposed to be endlessly reusable, but most ended up in landfills, creating even more plastic waste.
This version gives retailers until 2026 use up the thick bags. Then stores can give shoppers paper bags made of at least half recycled paper, or customers can use their own reusable woven totes.
Grocers opposed the first ban but this time they were on board, telling Blakespear “we are over the bag wars.”
Read the Sacramento Report here.
In Other News
- OK, so we didn’t beat the Dodgers. But, we live in San Diego and you can’t beat that.
- An estimated 423 homeless people now live along the San Diego River, according to the latest count by the San Diego River Park Foundation. The record number suggests that a recent proliferation of countywide encampment bans may be pushing homeless people into more marginal areas. (Union-Tribune)
- Unionized mental healthcare workers in Southern California, including 316 in San Diego County, announced plans on Friday to stage a walkout at Kaiser Permanente starting on Oct. 21. Kaiser, which has faced pressure from state regulators to improve mental health services, says it expects its hospitals and other treatment facilities to remain open in the event of a strike. (Union-Tribune)
- Train riders between Oceanside and San Diego were expected to be out of luck over the weekend as crews last week announced they planned to close the entire rail line on Oct. 12 to shore up parts of the crumbling Del Mar bluffs. The project is part of ongoing efforts to protect the bluff-adjacent rail line from erosion. Long-term solutions could include a controversial plan to re-route tracks underground, a subject of ongoing local debate. (KPBS)
The Morning Report was written by Jim Hinch and Deboarh Brennan. It was edited by Andrea Lopez-Villafaña.
“The Politics Report is available exclusively to Voice of San Diego members. *Do* gain access, become a member here and subscribe to the weekly politics newsletter.”
this is actually a great typo, except that it shoulda been followed by a semicolon.
“Then stores can give shoppers paper bags made of at least half recycled paper, or customers can use their own reusable woven totes.”
shoppers could also use whatever other bags they bring to the store – including old plastic ones, right?!
“OK, so we didn’t beat the Dodgers. But, we live in San Diego and you can’t beat that.
An estimated 423 homeless people now live along the San Diego River…”
GREAT juxtapositioning!