To not want to live near a crack and heroin addict?

[Flatsfromnowon]

Just that really; we moved into a block of six flats about two months ago.

One set of neighbours in the block have had a few arguments, smoke in the shared hallway, and have asked for money which I was a bit about. However...

This morning we were woken at 5.20 - one of them was being arrested and the other was being questioned by police and said that the one being arrested wanted to sell some of their property to buy heroin. The one not being arrested had self harmed and it was just all so horrible.

The police took both of them away. Then later on we were off out and the one whose property was being sold and had self harmed came back. I asked if they were okay and said that I has overheard them telling the police officers that the other one was addicted to crack and heroin and they confirmed this is the case.

I have a small child and just do not want to be in close proximity to them. I certainly do not want to use the shared garden (which their flat overlooks)). I feel such a snob but I am worried about needles, them falling asleep after a fix and causing a fire, all sorts of things really.

It is all young families here apart from this couple (who I think are late forties). I don't think the drug habit is new - they both look haggard and skinny. It is all so sad and tragic, I mean once they were young and probably just fell in with the wrong crowd but that doesn't make me want to stay living here.

We are shared owners so spoke to the housing association who weren't very helpful.

We also lives happily in another shared ownership place for 6 years and never encountered anything like this.

AIBU?

You mean uninterested, not disinterested.

Addicts have addictive personalities. Some people are fat, other people are heroin addicts. These boards are full of women with MH issues of varying degrees - drug addiction is just another one.

I hope the HA don't kick them out. I'm not enabling but I am sympathetic. I lived next door to a heroin addict/dealer for 10 years. Yes, she was a pain sometimes but it wouldn't have occurred to me to report her to the HA.

Of course most people know the risks of heroin but if you're coming from a background where it was normalised and/or you think you have no prospects, will never achieve anything, are possibly in emotional pain due to early experiences of neglect and abuse and there's fuck all else going on in your life or anything you can see in your future then it might be something you'd get into.

Every heroin addiction statistic will tell you there is a high proportion of victims of abuse and neglect that are almost exclusively from lower socio - economic groups and backgrounds.

Does no-one think it's odd that this 'choice' isn't being made in the overwhelming number of cases by middle class kids that had happy and supportive childhoods with numerous options for their futures?.

Why is that?. Why aren't our prisons and drug programmes full of those kids who were loved, supported and encouraged that they could achieve anything in life?.

And those people who had a shit time and didn't become addicts are to be commended but it doesn't mean that others falling into that trap were just weak or selfish. It means they were different people.

Perhaps a little late - but self harm isn't really a symptom of heroin addiction, aside from of course the fact that heroin is harmful. It is instead a symptom of a mental health problem.

In the OPs first post she says one of her neighbours had self harmed.

Scum. Sub human scum. They've made their choice. Right?

OP as others have said, I'm sorry if all this has left you feeling worse! I wish I had more practical advice, but all I can really advise is to monitor and make sure any problems affecting you are recorded with the relevant authorities. This would, FWIW be my advice for anyone with tricky neighbours, no matter the nature of the trickiness.

OddFodd. Don't tell me what I mean. How patronising are you?
I meant disinterested
'Disinterested traditionally means having no stake in the matter. Uninterested traditionally means not engaged, bored, or unconcerned.'

I have no stake in the matter, my life is unaffected by addiction but I am not uninterested or unconcerned or bored by the issues of addiction.

Does no-one think it's odd that this 'choice' isn't being made in the overwhelming number of cases by middle class kids that had happy and supportive childhoods with numerous options for their futures?.

No but it's odd the number of children who we are leaving in this cycle. I know the care outcomes are not brilliant. But I live in a street with dealers and addicts, and it's shit. My child can't play out, there's junkies coming and going all hours for their fix and they (the dealers and users) have children living with them.

Money on which kids will try heroin, the nice kids in the village over, or the ones living with these dealers and junkies now? Everyone saying junkies have a story and a history, everyone does. No one ever asks the families who daren't enjoy their own gardens and street what impact it has on their kids. Poor junkies

HedgeHog- you should be ashamed to want to ask that question. Direct your sympathies at the addcts and dealers. They have all had terrible times and we should put up with whatever impact they have on our lives because we are the lucky ones who have it all easy. Anyway, you must be exaggerating, as is anyone who expresses concerns about living next to them. They are known to mnetters on this thread- all friends of theirs- and they never cause others problems. We make such a deal about it- what are a few needles and broken bottles in your garden, police raids in the middle of the night, dealers hanging round where your children play? These people have problems FFS. Stop whining.