Drug/drink addicts around the town centre, begging, urinating in public. General A.S.B

[Smokyk]

Does anybody else have a similar problem locally to them? I live in Catford (S.E London) and I'm honestly sick of the sight of it.

Whenever I go to my local Tesco I'm hounded by drug addicts for money. I can't sit down on a bench for 5 minutes to rest my legs without being approached (I'm 8 months pregnant)

There are a group of drinkers that sit near the Costa all day every day, spilling booze all over the place and pissing up the walls in full view of passing children (including mine) making the area smell like a urinal. There are signs saying it's a no drinking zone but they take no notice.

Yesterday we walked past one of these men openly smoking crack at the side of a shop making no effort to conceal it.

Another bloke, drunk as a skunk and in a group of several tried giving my DD (2) a high five and terrified her.

How tone deaf need you be to approach a lone pregnant woman with a toddler when you're out of your head and in a group?

I've been asked for cigarettes and verbally abused when I've said I don't smoke.

One of the well known beggers even harasses people inside cafes.

It's absolutely disgusting.

What is the answer? A petition? Or do us normal locals just have to accept it is what it is? I can't move.

It’s quite shocking the way that some pp have made aggressive men committing asb if not actual crimes into helpless victims and op is a terrible monster for not wanting an intoxicated man to whip out his dick in front of a young child.

people still bear responsibility for their own behaviour. Not all drug users act as op described nor do homeless. Many people have problems but don’t behave as op describes these men behaving.

Our public spaces are for all of us. We have a few people making some areas intolerable for the people who live there. It’s utter snobbery to expect that op should somehow accept this abhorrent behavior and if she doesn’t she’s a snob.

I will bet my bottom dollar that the pps saying these things live in very different areas from the op.

I dont think addicts are evil @Shelddd I just do think many can rise to being decent human beings when in the grip of addiction. When they are desperate for the next fix, or the money to pay for it, everything else seems to go out of the window. Likewise an alcoholic knows that having that next drink will hurt their families but go ahead anyway.

don't think

Antisocial behaviour is awful, it doesn’t matter who it’s committed by or if they have any reasons for it.

It’s scary and intimidating and stops people from going about their normal business or can cause a lot of stress.

It needs to be clamped down on massively.

@DetroitNeedsADog

The privilege, self centeredness and sheer dehumanizing cruelty is something to behold. Awful.

Who are you referring to, please? Presumably PP/PPs on this thread? Could you be more specific, and also give us some evidence to back up your post? Thank you.

I'm sure all the people who are apologisers for anti social behaviour ensure they go down to the worst areas and help people, let them sleep in their houses, and if they kick off in front of the children, explain that it's okay for them to do that because they have issues? No? Thought not.

@LukeEvansWife

I'm sure all the people who are apologisers for anti social behaviour ensure they go down to the worst areas and help people, let them sleep in their houses, and if they kick off in front of the children, explain that it's okay for them to do that because they have issues? No? Thought not.

Bit of a stupid comment. I wouldn't let any stranger sleep in my house, whether it's a homeless person or a rich celebrity.

Not stupid at all. Being an addict on the streets apparently guarantees that they will never be violent, dangerous, rape someone etc. So I presume you do help them in some practical way? And if they abuse you in the street, what do you do?

Luke I don’t consider myself in any way supportive of ASB and it is a problem around where I live but I report significant issues and I personally don’t put up with any abuse and wouldn’t think twice about reporting something abusive, the rest of the time I try not to judge as best as I can and get on with my own life. It doesn’t have to be moving in the local addicts to your home to show compassion, there is plenty of more boundaried ways to still show compassion while continuing living your own life. In the OPs case I would have reported the abuse because as I previously said that, over time with an established pattern, gets dealt with where I am by the police.

And reporting it stops it does it? By the time it's happened, it's too late.

And the police know the dodgy ones here as well but it doesn't mean they do anything about them.

I’m pretty sure that those who are making excuses for antisocial behaviour and who feel that op is being harsh by highlighting it are not having to deal with it on a daily basis or are able to pick and choose when they come across it.

It’s totally different if it is affecting you daily and must be very stressful for those who have no choice but to put up with it because no one will do anything to stop it or give the victims any support.

I’ve lived in areas like this before and honestly, you can have sympathy for these people and be pissed off and feel intimidated by their behaviour. I’d keep reporting anti social behaviour to the local council and police as necessary but also be aware that nothing much will change due to constant cuts to all services. Long term the best thing you can do for all parties is not vote Tory ever. Their cuts impact massively on vulnerable and anti social people and that in turn impacts on everyone around them.

My city has had huge issues with this recently and I've had to deal with it in my work.

It really is tricky because it isn't as simple as just accepting that people have serious troubles and being sympathetic. We have people in a semi-public place where they are urinating into the nearby yards, having fights that are extremely violent, a few overdoses, having sex in an area visible to some, etc. The people around live in this area, and can't use their yards or send their kids to the playground. They also are often people who are struggling.

Similarly my organisation runs youth programs, and while we don't want to move people along, the area the kids walk through to get to us is full of needles and people who are not quite all there, be it from drugs, mental illness, etc.

It's actually been the well-off people who don't live right in the area that are trying to apply pressure to not do anything, because they feel badly. But they don't seem to realize that this affects the lives of all kinds of other people that live and work there every day.

Unfortunately there aren't straight forward answers in many cases. You can move people on but they will still be somewhere.

There are a lot of "poor desperate addicts" where i live. So poor and desperate that they mug people frequently and recently a heavily pregnant woman was assaulted by one of these poor souls while he was stealing her handbag. I have zero sympathy for them

@RudestLittleMadam

I’ve lived in areas like this before and honestly, you can have sympathy for these people and be pissed off and feel intimidated by their behaviour. I’d keep reporting anti social behaviour to the local council and police as necessary but also be aware that nothing much will change due to constant cuts to all services. Long term the best thing you can do for all parties is not vote Tory ever. Their cuts impact massively on vulnerable and anti social people and that in turn impacts on everyone around them.

I lived in a deprived inner city area for a couple of years during the last labour government though, and the antisocial behaviour was just as bad then. It was just as scary as it is now to go outside. As soon as I could i moved, but some are not as lucky.

Yanbu Op.
You can’t go about your business without being hassled by these scummy people. And no, I’m not going to apologise for calling them scum, it’s the decent people being harassed that I feel sorry for.

@LobsterNapkin

My city has had huge issues with this recently and I've had to deal with it in my work.

It really is tricky because it isn't as simple as just accepting that people have serious troubles and being sympathetic. We have people in a semi-public place where they are urinating into the nearby yards, having fights that are extremely violent, a few overdoses, having sex in an area visible to some, etc. The people around live in this area, and can't use their yards or send their kids to the playground. They also are often people who are struggling.

Similarly my organisation runs youth programs, and while we don't want to move people along, the area the kids walk through to get to us is full of needles and people who are not quite all there, be it from drugs, mental illness, etc.

It's actually been the well-off people who don't live right in the area that are trying to apply pressure to not do anything, because they feel badly. But they don't seem to realize that this affects the lives of all kinds of other people that live and work there every day.

Unfortunately there aren't straight forward answers in many cases. You can move people on but they will still be somewhere.

Yes exactly. Actual privileged people are not affected by this issue because they pay money to live in areas that aren't like this.

[quote Theythinkitsalloveritisnow]@skodadoda unfortunately you can phone the police as much as you want, they're very unlikely to turn up and if they do they almost certainly won't do anything. This is just reality in the area I live in. Constant thefts and vandalism, but nothing gets done about it.[/quote]
This is simply not true. In any case, it’s only by reporting every incident that you highlight the scale of the problem.

So what's the solution? Especially for those that don't want help?
Round them up and pack them off to an island?
Round them up and shoot them? Make junkie hunting a new sport as a replacement for fox hunting?

@user1471447863

So what's the solution? Especially for those that don't want help? Round them up and pack them off to an island? Round them up and shoot them? Make junkie hunting a new sport as a replacement for fox hunting?

Your last two suggestions are a bit extreme but shipping those who don't want help to an island doesn't sound like a bad idea.

After all, if they don't want the help that everybody says they need why should we have to put up with their anti-social behaviour?

By all means, support those who do want help.

But the ones who don't? Bollocks to them.

@skodadoda

It is true you can report all you want the police or council don't do anything. Alot of them actually hang about the corner of the council office. There are some local drug users that have been seen breaking into cars in the area.it happens almost daily. People even have videos of then doing it. Still nothing Is done. The police give a crime number and that's it . It feels like the crime number is just to humour people.

As soon as I could i moved, but some are not as lucky.

Yes this. Saying something practical and comstructive needs to be done is not about having sympathy or not. It's about not everyone being so privileged as the poster I'm quoting. Not everyone living in the 'bad' areas can afford to move out.

Ranting about 'scum' doesn't actually help. Doesn't help the addicts, and it sure as hell doesn't help the rest of the local community.

Locking them all up and throwing away the key, as some on here seem to want? Well (aside from the moral aspect) that costs money. A lot of it. Might as well, instead, spend the money for good. Positive action.

Re RTB. It's not banned for all housing associations. In Wales and Scotland, yes, where it's thankfully banned across the board, but in England it's a postcode lottery. Shockingly it's not banned in the capital of homelessness. 165,000 homeless people in London. That's more people than the entire population of many towns. Yet RTB is still allowed in London.

My sister was an addict and bounced around a lot of temporary housing situations but still spent about half a year living on the street with her husband (also an addict).

Yes, temporary accommodation is so very often utterly awful. Dumping a load of vulnerable people including but not only addicts, all together in 'sink' areas in badly maintained substandard housing is a recipe for disaster. And a fantastic gift to dealers.

I read the OP. I feel like she has two concerns - in my opinion people doing drugs are none of her business. I agree that people shouting and carrying on at passers by are a problem, so “ffs” back atcha, sweetie

You & the OP can clutch your pearls and turn up your noses all you like. I have compassion for people suffering from addiction whereas it appears many of you merely have contempt.

Soz, forgot to direct my reply to the charming @rocksteadyfreddy .