inebriates

In Sacramento, the problem has exploded from a few hundred “inebriates” in flophouses to thousands in tents and encampments.

In 1980, I reported on Sacramento’s “public inebriates.”

Their focus in 1967 was on “chronic alcoholism”; one section of the law was titled “Detention of Inebriates for Evaluation and Treatment.”

I stepped outside during a break, crouched on the sidewalk for a smoke and watched the street parade: disoriented tourists, semi-oriented inebriates, the usual.

The book isn’t perfect — I wish Pain had told us more about the bazaar for “Deserving Inebriates.”