I don't actually think it's within the scope of urban planning to solve some of the societal-level social ills such as inequality and drug abuse. Yes there are ways in which communities can be designed to avoid exasperating such issues but the root causes such as the decades long descent into neoliberalism must be addressed.
It's like, if you have a building such as a school or library with major structural issues that require renovation and you're not even willing to consider addressing them. So you tell the general maintenance staff who do things like change light bulbs and oil squeaky doors that they're not doing a good enough job maintaining the building, and plead with them to find new ways to be more effective within the existing budget. Well, I'm sure they'll do their best to help...
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"The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man." - George Bernard Shaw
Don't ask people not to debate a topic. Just stop making debatable assertions. Problem solved.
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