The fact that the San Francisco public is too brainwashed to do so is a big part of why I would never consider taking a job there, and I can think of no greater karmic justice than the fact that they have to suffer the consequences of their idiotic policies towards homelessness.
Whatever rights "we want to extend people who [...] find themselves in conflict with 'civilized society'" shouldn't include defecating on and leaving discarded, infectious needles strewn over the streets of the most coveted neighborhoods in the United States.
Look, I agree more could and should be done, but hmm... you've convinced me that maybe the system works. Stay where you are bud. It's more their city yours. I can't fathom how you've managed to feel more entitlement over a city you happily feel has been karmicly punished.
I agree! But I think the ugliness GP alludes to comes from the fact that this boils down to: the law that people want is essentially selective enforcement weighed against the people who presumably have the least as is (a consequence of their own choices or otherwise).
Alternatively, you can't legislate root causes: you have to legislate against symptoms; the problematic results of drug use. But that seems to be too hard to do too and does seem like a round about way of attacking populations in need.
I think it's a hard question that needs to start with: what rights and options do we want to extend people who for one reason or another find themselves in conflict with "civilized society."