Metro

LEFT-WING LUNACY! Karen Bass Says Homeless Use Meth to Stay Awake for Protection

posted by Hannity Staff - 7.17.26

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass has offered a startling explanation for meth use on the city’s streets: Some homeless people take it to avoid becoming victims while they sleep.

Bass made the remark Wednesday while defending her administration’s response to homelessness, arguing that life on the street can push people toward drugs as they struggle to remain awake and protect themselves.

“You sleep out in the street for a couple of weeks, and tell me that you’re not going to stay sane or use meth so that you don’t go to sleep to protect yourself,” Bass said during a City Hall press conference.

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Reporters immediately asked the Democratic mayor to clarify.

“I know that people have used meth to stay awake at night, so they don’t fall asleep because they’re worried about being assaulted,” Bass responded.

The mayor did not explicitly encourage anyone to use meth. She presented the behavior as a response to the danger, trauma and instability of sleeping outside.

Critics heard an excuse.

They accused Bass of rationalizing a potentially deadly addiction instead of acknowledging that drug use can help keep people trapped on the street and make already dangerous encampments even more volatile.

The backlash came as Los Angeles confronts a punishing overdose crisis in which methamphetamine remains one of the leading killers.

The latest publicly available Los Angeles County Department of Public Health report found that meth was involved in 62% of accidental overdose deaths in 2024, up proportionally from 60% the previous year.

The total number of meth-involved deaths declined from 2023 to 2024, but the drug appeared in a larger share of all fatal overdoses. Many deaths involved more than one substance, frequently combining methamphetamine with fentanyl or another opioid.

More recent figures cited by The California Post indicated that meth was involved in nearly 60% of county overdose deaths during 2025, with more than 1,400 meth-related fatalities.

Against that backdrop, Bass’s attempt to explain the behavior landed like a lit match in a chemical warehouse.

“Karen Bass is directly or indirectly promoting drug abuse,” John Alle, a business owner near drug-plagued MacArthur Park, told The California Post.

“She refuses to terminate month-to-month contracts with groups distributing needles and drug pipes.