[Hoyadonis]

America is a land of extremes. We actually have relatively high standard of living thanks to extremely high wages, which allow us to live lives of relative luxury. We also have high wealth inequality and tolerate many horrors - some unfathomable to other developed countries (e.g. gun deaths).

[ronanyeah]

It is possible to tolerate wealth inequality, while not tolerating mentally ill drug addicts terrorising the public.

[somewhereoutth]

Arguably the latter is a symptom of the former. So there are broadly 2 approaches to tackle the problem - reduce inequality, or use draconian measures to control the people who got the wrong end of the inequality stick.

[amrocha]

It's possible to tolerate the cause without tolerating the consequences?

[Jochim]

Places with lower wealth inequality seem to have fewer mentally ill drug addicts terrorising the public.

Putting aside arguments of social responsibility and taking a purely self-interested perspective, it's typically cheaper and more effective to provide for these people than it is to lock them up. When there's nothing to take away, enforcement doesn't provide any deterrent and frequently leads to an escalation of behaviour instead.