Drugs rule Skid Row area of downtown Los Angeles

Skid Row is home to thousands of chronically homeless people on the edge of the downtown. No one shares the same story how they ended up in the center of poverty and despair. The streets are ruled by drugs day and night. Help exists, but too many turn to drugs to cope their problems. 

The latest nationwide homeless count shows that 4 of every 10 people living on the street are severely mentally ill or have a serious drug addiction. 

Two homeless drug addicts inject themselves with heroin in the Skid Row area of downtown Los Angeles Monday, Nov. 6, 2017. The man on the right, who has been doing drugs everyday since January, said it was a nightmare trying to quit. "If we could stop, we would, you know. But you get sick." the addict said. “I have daughter now in Alabama. I just had a granddaughter I may never see.” (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

A homeless drug addict twists his body while sitting on a sidewalk Saturday, Oct. 28, 2017, in the Skid Row area of downtown Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

A homeless drug addict, who said his name is Barbie, smokes crystal meth in his tent Saturday, Nov. 4, 2017, in downtown Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

A homeless man wobbles back and forth tearing a cardboard box into pieces Tuesday, Nov. 7, 2017, in the Skid Row area of downtown Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

D. J. Meek, a 40-year-old homeless drug addict, smokes crystal meth Friday, Sept. 8, 2017, in the Skid Row area of downtown Los Angeles. Meeks’ veins are collapsed due to chronic use of heroin. He said talking to himself makes him unemployable. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

Los Angeles County Coroners investigator Kelli Blanchard looks around a tent where the body of 33-year-old homeless man Andrew Withrow was found Monday, Sept. 11, 2017, in the Skid Row are of downtown Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

Bearing cuts all over his face, a homeless drug addict, who said his name is April Jane, aimlessly stares into space on a sidewalk in the Skid Row area of downtown Los Angeles, Thursday, Nov. 2, 2017. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

Three homeless people take a nap on a sidewalk in the Skid Row area of downtown Los Angeles Monday, Nov. 6, 2017. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

Using a teddy bear named Michelle as a pillow, Manuel Martinez, a 45-year-old homeless day laborer originally from Mexico, falls asleep on a sidewalk in the Skid Row area of downtown Los Angeles, Thursday, Nov. 2, 2017. Martinez said he has been an alcoholic more than a decade. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

Wearing a pair of American flag socks, homeless Stafford Wilson, 48, stands in front of his tent while dancing to music Tuesday, Nov. 7, 2017, in the Skid Row area of downtown Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

A mentally-ill homeless woman talks into the air in Spanish while sitting in a tree naked Friday, Nov. 3, 2017, in Santa Ana, Calif. A passing homeless man, who said he had seen her in a tree a few times before, tossed some clothes to help her cover herself, but she declined his offer. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

A mentally-ill homeless woman cries out while holding a pay phone after running through several blocks of downtown Los Angeles, yelling and screaming Saturday, Nov. 4, 2017. The woman, who said her name was Kara Miller when asked in September, is a Skid Row resident. Wandering around the streets where drugs rule, Miller talks to herself almost always and occasionally screams and curses as if seeing a ghost. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

Homeless man Jack Harten breaks down as he listens to gospel music while drinking beer on a sidewalk across the street from the Midnight Mission Wednesday, Nov. 22, 2017, in Los Angeles. Harten said he drinks about 12 cans of beer daily. "I'm tired of drinking," he said, sobbing. Help exists, but too many turn to drugs to cope their problems. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

A mentally ill homeless woman walks past a man sleeping on a sidewalk in the Skid Row area of downtown Los Angeles, Friday, Sept. 1, 2017. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

Homeless drug addict Andrew Hudson, 33, reacts as he injects himself with heroin next to an angel statue Wednesday, Nov. 8, 2017, in the Skid Row area of downtown Los Angeles. "It's miserable quitting, or trying - trying anything," said Hudson. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

Homeless man Moody Tanksley, 61, is surrounded by paramedics as he refuses medical treatment after dialing 911 twice by himself Monday, Nov. 13, 2017, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

A homeless woman hunches over on a sidewalk while her partner smokes rock cocaine Thursday, Nov. 2, 2017, in the Skid Row area of downtown Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

Samuel Raymond, 50, holds up a banner saying "Jesus Loves You" on a sidewalk as a passing homeless man reaches into a trash can in search of anything of value Saturday, Nov. 4, 2017, in the Skid Row area of downtown Los Angeles. "The Lord is my shelter," said Raymond, who has been homeless for nearly 20 years. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

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Photos by Jae C. Hong

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