> That said, I agree society has the burden to provide assistance, mental health is severely underfunded and under-researched, and the legal restrictions around drugs that could assist psychotherapy are frankly criminal

It's not just clinical mental health issues (though I agree with all of this too). Society is massively failing enormous groups of people, perhaps the majority, by not enacting radical policy changes that make it feasible to have a roof over one's head, eat, and maybe have time for leisure. We have an epidemic of homelessness here in Vancouver that keeps getting worse every day, with no relief in sight for people on hard times.

Working a full time job at minimum wage won't even afford you an average priced 1-bedroom, let alone food. People manage to get by with roommates, but finding house shares is harder and harder. Here's what ~80 hours of work at a minimum wage job will allow you to rent: https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/vancouver-sro-tour . That's half your monthly pay, and that's assuming you're able to work full time, don't have medical/dental/therapy/physio expenses that prevent you from working full time, and can find work. With no kitchen and rising food costs, the other half of your paycheck is going to food.

Contrary to popular belief, not that many people actually starved during the great depression; suicide was a larger cause of death at the time, and our suicide rate now is probably not much better.

Rather than telling people contemplating suicide that "things will get better" we should be holding our politicians accountable for the systems failing people. We don't know that things will get better, and I don't think it's fair to tell people to just continue suffering indefinitely on the off chance they might improve, when there's no plan to actually bring about those changes that would improve their quality of life.