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Orozco, Norma <br /> From: <br /> Sent: Monday, July 17, 2023 3:49 PM <br /> To: eComment <br /> Subject: Council member Bacerra's Requested Item 39 on Public Intoxication and Service <br /> Offering <br /> To Santa Ana City Council Members, <br /> Please take action against the rising problem of public intoxication and drug use. Despite that <br /> public intoxication is a misdemeanor crime in California, it is rampant in Santa Ana. Currently, not <br /> enough is being done to stop it. We need to implement the existing law that allows police to detain <br /> individuals who are found in any public place under the influence of intoxicating liquor, any drug, <br /> and/or controlled substance to make our city safer. It is not fair that hard working people have <br /> nowhere to sit when they are waiting for the bus because a person high on drugs is laying on the <br /> bench or that the bench has been urinated on. It is not fair that students have to pass by people <br /> shooting up as they walk to school. In one instance, my student came to school visibly upset because <br /> she witnessed a man dead from overdose as she walked to school. It is not fair that businesses lose <br /> customers and their livelihood because drug users are loitering outside scaring away customers. It <br /> isn't fair that we have to wait to get gas and risk running out as we are driving because it is not safe to <br /> step foot out of our cars at the gas station. On one occasion, I was surrounded by drug users at the <br /> gas station who were threatening me for money and insisting I must have had cash when I didn't. It <br /> isn't fair that adults or children are exposed to private body parts because people who are intoxicated <br /> don't realize that their pants are down. The people of Santa Ana shouldn't have to deal with scary and <br /> disgusting situations like these. We need to get drug users off the streets now. Unfortunately people <br /> who are addicted will resort to criminal activity to get money to buy drugs. If nothing is done, problems <br /> in Santa Ana will grow. I understand that intoxicated people need to be shown compassion because <br /> they are most likely struggling, but ignoring isn't showing compassion. Detaining those who are drunk <br /> or high in public is showing compassion because it serves as an opportunity to offer them help. <br /> 1 <br />