The Democrat Party has more than its share of bigots, haters and nuts. It is expected. Now we find a desert Republican Mayor of Lancaster—also an attorney—makes AOC look sane. To my knowledge no Democrats has openly suggested giving the homeless a deadly drug, to end the crisis.
“Fox News notes that at issue is a statement by Parris during a February city council meeting. Referring to the city’s homeless population, Parris asserted that “What I want to do is give them free fentanyl. That’s what I want to do.”
He was responding to a question about a plan to create a central homeless encampment at an abandoned golf course, which happens to be near a residential area. Parris later told Fox 11 that he did not expect his comments to be taken at face value since fentanyl is so easy to obtain that there would be no point in a city handing it out for free.”
Worse he admits his town is so filled with the deadly drug, no need for government to give it out free. What is this guy smoking? Does he have any humanity? Doesn’t he want to to save lives? Maybe he is a secret employee of Planned Parenthood—of you weren’t aborted, you should die by deadly drugs. This is a sick man. I would not recall him—I would ship him off for long term treatment—to protect Lancaster and himself.
California Mayor Suggests Giving Homeless Fentanyl to ‘Purge’ the Streets
Lincoln Brown, PJ Media, 4/21/25 https://pjmedia.com/lincolnbrown/2025/04/21/ca-mayor-suggests-giving-homeless-fentanyl-to-purge-the-streets-n4939088#google_vignette
R. Rex Parris, the Republican mayor of Lancaster, Calif., is facing a recall. As of this writing, Parris may not have much to worry about since only 6% of the 20,000 signatures needed has been gathered.
Fox News notes that at issue is a statement by Parris during a February city council meeting. Referring to the city’s homeless population, Parris asserted that “What I want to do is give them free fentanyl. That’s what I want to do.”
He was responding to a question about a plan to create a central homeless encampment at an abandoned golf course, which happens to be near a residential area. Parris later told Fox 11 that he did not expect his comments to be taken at face value since fentanyl is so easy to obtain that there would be no point in a city handing it out for free.
Parris told the outlet:
I made it very clear I was talking about the criminal element that were let out of the prisons that have now become 40 to 45% of what’s referred to as the homeless population.
They are responsible for most of our robberies, most of our rapes, and at least half of our murders. There’s nothing that we can do for these people.”
Quite frankly, I wish that the president would give us a purge. Because we do need to purge these people.
Now, is it harsh? Of course, it is harsh. But it’s my obligation as the mayor of the city of Lancaster to protect the hardworking families that live there, and I am no longer able to do it… It’s an untenable situation, and I’m open to any solution… I want these people out of our city.
I have encountered the homeless in Salt Lake City. I have seen all manner of erratic behavior on the streets, including a woman emerge from a makeshift shelter in a small tent city armed with a large pair of scissors. She was not brandishing them but wearing them as one might a Bowie knife.
Panhandling transients dot the parking lots of two shopping centers near me, and last summer, one decided to stretch out and nap on a park strip in front of a church in my neighborhood. Kids set up lemonade stands and ride their bikes on that block, and people use that sidewalk to walk to church and a nearby park. Because of the unpredictable behavior of this demographic, there would be cause for alarm if said people continued to decide that the street was a great place for a noonday snooze.
I called the police, and the cop said that unless the property owner filed a complaint, there was nothing he could do. He added that if he told the man to leave, he would just go somewhere else. I don’t know if the officer just didn’t want to respond or if, like so many others, he rationalized that nothing would be accomplished anyway.
Certainly, the idea of handing out fentanyl to wipe out a population is more than alarming, even if it is made in jest or as a sarcastic policy underscore. After all, Christ did command us to minister to the “least of these.” If we are serious in our contention that life is precious, such a conviction applies to the homeless and addicted as well as the unborn.
But what does one do when “the least of these” is not interested in improving their lot? The mentally ill are a different story, but what about someone who has chosen the transient lifestyle, perhaps one that involves fentanyl or heroin?
People have a right to be transient if they so choose. But other people have the right to be safe on the streets and in parks. They should be able to step out into the open air without worrying about being accosted, assaulted with a pair of scissors, or having to navigate garbage and human waste. And Parris did go to lengths to say he was talking about the criminal element that refuses help.
At what point are one’s choices no longer tolerated after they begin to infringe on the safety and welfare of others? It’s one thing to give a couple of bucks to a guy with a sign outside of Walmart. You may even choose to donate to the local food pantry or warming center. But what if you and your kids have to do an about-face on the way to the playground because someone is shooting up or defecating at the swing sets? Or what if you find yourself recovering from a head wound delivered by a madman roaming the sidewalks? How much must a community tolerate the lifestyle choices of others when said choices intrude on the safety of the citizens? Parris’ remarks may have been distasteful, bombastic, hyperbolic, and sarcastic, but the problem is very real.
The irony behind the opposition to Parris’s idea is that what he is advocating is already being done, albeit in slow motion. Such are already mired in their own squalor, taking fentanyl or other drugs, their minds decaying and their bodies literally rotting. As unseemly as Parris’ proposal may be to some, it is well underway in many cities, large and small. Some of it was evident in the cop’s response to me: that if he rousted the vagrant, he’d just move someplace else, so why bother?
Other than ennui and resignation, one must ask whether, in far too many cities and states, there is more money to be made in grants, allocations, and other funding cycle denizens by managing a problem rather than fixing it. After all, if we fixed homelessness, how many government jobs would be on the line?
