A homeless man named James recently broke down on camera how he spends his time in The Golden City while being broke. James, who claims he moved to San Francisco from Texas, told author Michael Shellenberger that he is homeless by choice and that it is “literally so f***ing easy” because of how the city government reacts to the homeless.
Shellenberger, author of a book titled “San Fransicko: Why Progressives Ruin Cities,” asked James how he was able to obtain his funding. James explained, “F***ing phone call bro… $200 [in] food stamps and $620 cash a month. Forget about it. … This right now is literally by choice, literally by choice.”
“If we’re going to be realistic, they pay you to be homeless here,” James claimed.
Annually, the city spends $300 million in sheltering, feeding, and caring for the homeless. Last year, lawmakers expressed concerns over a portion of spending — $16.1 million — that provided camping tents and food to some 300 people creating a pop-up homeless village replete with its own city-provided security as a COVID-19 mitigation measure.
“Why wouldn’t I do it? You know, it’s f***ing free money dude,” James explained. “Why would I want to pay rent? I’m not doing s***. I’ve got a f***ing cell phone that I have Amazon Prime and Netflix on.”
James indicates that he cleans and sells fentanyl vials and also provides Narcan tutorials in the event one of his clients takes too much of the drug and is on the verge of dying, as explained by The Daily Mail:
“These two kids came up and they’re like: ‘Hey do you guys know where to get any oxycontin?’ James told Shellenberger. “And I’m like, ‘look dude, I’mma tell you right now, you’re not going to get oxycontin out here on the street.'”
James said the teens had $40 to spend on drugs, which he used to purchase fentanyl for them.
“I said: ‘Ok, this is what I’m going to do. I’m going to take your money’ and I went and I got them fentanyl,” he said.
I f*****g brought it back and I set it down in front of them and I said “This is a gram of fentanyl. It is enough to kill six people who have never used it.”‘
James said he showed the teens how much fentanyl he takes to get high and then provided a Narcan tutorial, citing how he knew they were going to continue to use drugs regardless of whether or not he helped them get high.
‘I was like “I’m keeping your money and now I’m going to teach you how to save each others’ lives because you’re not gonna f*****g stop. I can’t steer you away from doing it, but the best thing I can do for you now is give you real drugs and show you how to do it properly and show you how to save your friend’s life,”‘ he said.
‘And I showed them how to pull up Narcan and how to inject each other with the Narcan needle in case they died.’
He added: ‘I needed the money. Let’s be honest.’
As for why drug use is so rampant, James blamed police officers who do not illegal immigrants bringing in the narcotics.
“I’ve talked to the cops here,” he told Shellenberger. “‘I’m literally 10 feet away from the drug dealers talking to you guys, why don’t you go arrest them right now?’ And they’re like, ‘Arrest them for what?… San Francisco is a sanctuary city. We arrest the Hondurans and we put them in jail, they’re out two days later.'”
Shellenberger’s interview can be seen here:
People say lack of housing forces local residents into the streets, but James says he came from Texas to San Francisco for the drugs, the non-enforcement of anti-camping laws, and the $820/month in welfare & food stamps. James says he sold fentanyl, 2 weeks ago, to a 15-year-old. pic.twitter.com/5qMr6tmlWs
— Michael Shellenberger (@shellenberger) February 9, 2022
