"Increased drug use and crime near the Whole Foods on Eighth and Market, which opened just one year ago, contributed to the store’s closing"
First of all, what a dead stupid place to open a Whole Foods. Second, drug use isn't causing any problems. Actual crime, the kind with victims, is surely a huge problem. But ingesting drugs doesn't cause problems automatically. Forcing people to engage with the black market, and buy impure drugs, and do them on the street? Yeah, that can cause problems. But the simple act of getting intoxicated is not the problem that needs solving. That will always happen. Th problem is how mind-bogglingly stupid we are with how we deal with this fact.
First of all, what a dead stupid place to open a Whole Foods. Second, drug use isn't causing any problems. Actual crime, the kind with victims, is surely a huge problem. But ingesting drugs doesn't cause problems automatically. Forcing people to engage with the black market, and buy impure drugs, and do them on the street? Yeah, that can cause problems. But the simple act of getting intoxicated is not the problem that needs solving. That will always happen. Th problem is how mind-bogglingly stupid we are with how we deal with this fact.