His Mother Injected Him With Heroin at 12

Perry was 12 years old when his mother injected him with heroin for the first time. He never had a choice. His mother probably didn’t either. Poverty and addiction are generational. People use drugs to escape pain. And once addiction takes hold, it’s not a switch you can turn on and off. Perry has been to rehab. He gets clean. Something traumatic happens. And he finds himself back where he started, living outside in Bakersfield, surviving on $20 a day from canning just to feed himself and his partner. This is not a moral failure. This is what happens when people in pain don’t get the help they need, and when systems fail entire families across generations. We will not solve homelessness without addressing addiction, and we will not address addiction without treatment, harm reduction, housing, and real supportive services all working together. Perry deserves that. So does everyone in your community who is struggling right now. Watch our full documentary “Reaching Homeless People Through Their Pets: Street Medicine Bakersfield” on YouTube. Then demand your local leaders fund real solutions, treatment, harm reduction, housing, and supportive services, for everyone in your community who is struggling.