[hvert]

A friend called me in a panic today. Her crack addict boyfriend has switched to meth and is cooking it himself. From what she said, it sounded like he brought some of the chemicals in her house and mixed some of them there. Not all of them, but some.

He moved into her apartment two years ago. She has long wanted him out, but he refuses to move. He tried to get her addicted to crack, but she didn't get hooked.

My friend is mentally ill- I am not sure what her diagnosis is, but she has received SSI for years. She is naive and is often victimized by men. She has public housing assistance. He keeps threatening to call housing to say that he is living there so she will lose her housing. The govt. has been aggressive about prosecuting people who get housing assistance while they have a boyfriend paying rent on the side-- not that this guy pays rent.

She is worried that if she calls the cops, she will go to jail. I also think she is reluctant to call the cops because a part of her wants to help him. Rehab, etc.

Her case manager misses appointments and sounds pretty useless.

I called a domestic violence hotline where they answered the phone by asking for my name and number. Someone called me back and gave me the most useless information in the world (Call the cops, they won't let him go back there). Then she gave me the phone number to a suicide hotline because it had 'something to do with mental health issues' -- I am really flabbergasted at the call. I have suggested that people call these hotlines assuming that they will get some information or help - never again.

I don't really know how I can help her. I wanted to have 'proof' that she would not lose her housing over this and contact information for someone competent that could help her.

[kaliope]

that does seem to be a tough one...

if she wants him out she has to be willing to take the steps and live with the consequences. she is in fact breaking the rules by letting him live there and may be penalized for that.

standing firm on getting him out by moving all his stuff out the door may be the only way to do it. he will be out and then she wont be breaking the rule any more.

she could have him arrested if she has the cops come in and see the drug paraphernalia. and let them know he is blackmailing her as well. and the restraining ordere so he can come back,. plus she is a vulnerable population being mentally ill so that is a crime taking advantage of her. I don't know what agency you can report that to though.

I know this probably doesn't help much..just my thoughts.

[hvert]

She is caught between a rock and a hard place. I have a very bad feeling that if she calls the landlord to have the lock changed, she will be evicted. She already had it changed once because her boyfriends crack friends stole her bag. Her apartment is being sprayed right now for bed bugs that the boyfriend brought over.

So I am not sure that she wants to live with the consequences. I am not sure that I would. She is not like an adult in some ways, if that makes sense. She was always clear that she did not want him living there - he has no stuff there, but she didn't know how to make him leave, especially when he had no other home to go to.

He has a sister who is stable and who controls his money. I am thinking of calling her.