"Fixing" the problem(s) is not easy. Here is a really radical idea:
Make narcotic drugs legal and free, or at least very inexpensive.
Making drugs legal and free would go a LONG way towards reducing
theft, if that is considered to be the **BIG** problem.

While I actually agree with your approach (and would have REALLY supported
it in my early 20s :-), I wonder about the social costs of such an action.

If drugs were freely available (or nearly so), would the stigma of addiction
diminish? Would it become "okay" to lay around stoned all day long, as it
is in some Caribbean cultures?

Is being non-productive a bad thing, as a society? Or would drugs simply
diminish and die, over time, must like cigarettes are doing now?

Dunno.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"