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How areLA’s homelessto escape addiction and poverty if the nonprofit organizations that are supposed to help them are mired in drugs themselves?
That’s the urgent question after a bust Thursday that saw Christopher Johnson of People Assisting the Homeless (PATH) arrested for alleged possession of fentanyl and meth nearMacArthur Park.
The park has become synonymous with homelessness, crime, and open-air drug use in recent years.
Federal law enforcement, led by First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli, has targeted the drug dealers and gangsters who sustain thedrug trade near the park. The LAPD and other law enforcement agencies, at every level, have stepped up the fight to restore the park for all Angelenos to enjoy.
But their work is undone if a “substance use disorder specialist” from a local nonprofit group that is meant to be helping the homeless is allegedly carrying around drugs himself.
This is likely more than a story of personal struggle with substance abuse.
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Essayli told the California Post that this arrest is no coincidence, and that nonprofit groups have long been suspected of distributing drugs in the park, not just helping addicts obtain safer needles or navigate their way through government services.
Some of these nonprofits, he added, receive millions of dollars from the city.
Source: California Post – Breaking California News, Photos & Videos
