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.

Just count your blessings its not you or a loved one.
Maybe you should be asking yourself what social determinants made this happen. Hope you teach your child some empathy.

@MichelleScarn

They're too busy being sanctimonious no doubt!

😉

I rather hope the OP teaches her DC that it’s not ok to harass women and children and expose your genitals in public…oh wait that IS empathy. But surely the OP is lacking this for not wanting to be exposed to this kind of behavior because the poor menzz are addicted and can’t help themselves. If women take offense and feel intimidated then obviously they’re morally wrong.
And have no empathy.

It must be awful to be in that situation. Homeless, addicted to drugs and with no support from the community.

@Tootyfilou

Just count your blessings its not you or a loved one. Maybe you should be asking yourself what social determinants made this happen. Hope you teach your child some empathy.

Harsh and unjustified.

All these people playong "oh what a horrible person, have a sympathy" are pretty hnfair.
Bet you that if you speak to the businesses and people in areas with this problems, they will tell you about break ins, threats, theft.

Frankly. The fact your life is shit doesn't give you right to make everyone else's one shit and recieve "awww poor you" only.

Same in my town centre its like the walking dead, off their heads on spice.
There is help available they don't want it.
There needs to be huge investment in mental health and social services to stop them getting to this point. But that's never going to happen.
I can be sad about humanity but also not want to put up with this shit while I'm walking to the post office with my kids.

Tabitha005 I hope you are no nowhere near homeless services. Shame on you. Your poor clients!

It's the same in Leicester city centre

I'm sure that any of the 'get involved to help them/they are addicts etc' wouldn't be so smug if it was their area

All these people playong "oh what a horrible person, have a sympathy" are pretty unfair, bet you that if you speak to the businesses and people in areas with this problems, they will tell you about break ins, threats, theft

Yep exactly, like the woman I've been talking to for the best part of the afternoon. Her home keeps getting broken into by the bunch I'm posting about.

She has worked for the NHS for 20 years treating and helping people, caring about others, to now find herself signed off work and diagnosed with PTSD because she's terrified to leave her flat and isn't coping. Today she has thanked me for caring and listening to her because no bugger else has.

All too busy pitying the criminals no doubt.

She has lobbied our MP, contacted the police on a daily basis at times, written to the council, begged her landlord to step in and help. Nobody is giving a shit about people like her but we're expected to extend endless sympathy to the very people who are making others lives an utter misery.

What if one of theses people attack someone they are already aggressive threatening so if one of them attacked someone one day would people be posting oh he has an addiction show some empathy bla bla whilst blaming the victim

@Crackford

What if one of theses people attack someone they are already aggressive threatening so if one of them attacked someone one day would people be posting oh he has an addiction show some empathy bla bla whilst blaming the victim

Online? They absolutely would. Unaffected people always have most sympathy...

I genuinely try to help the homeless if I can but

The only way the council or the police will do anything is when the local shops suffer. People will generally avoid places where behaviour like this happens , shops loose money and close and the council looses revenue.

Well of course there's always the option of actually reinstating the safety net of secure housing, welfare benefits at a level enough to survive and maintain dignity, and - here's the real radical idea - well funded and well run public services. Social care, mental health services, substance abuse support, etc. Oh and good employment and training opportunities including proper old style apprenticeships and on-the-job work training.

Or we could just continue leaving people to rot whilst spreading the misery and suffering to the wider community.

@romdowa

The only way the council or the police will do anything is when the local shops suffer. People will generally avoid places where behaviour like this happens , shops loose money and close and the council looses revenue.

Nope. They will say they are doing something... Small ahops are usually well ignored unless they cause a faff in local media

@Tealightsandd

Well of course there's always the option of actually reinstating the safety net of secure housing, welfare benefits at a level enough to survive and maintain dignity, and - here's the real radical idea - well funded and well run public services. Social care, mental health services, substance abuse support, etc. Oh and good employment and training opportunities including proper old style apprenticeships and on-the-job work training.

Or we could just continue leaving people to rot whilst spreading the misery and suffering to the wider community.

Absolutely. But assuming OP can't wave a magic wand, what is she supposed to do when she's harassed?

Absolutely. But assuming OP can't wave a magic wand, what is she supposed to do when she's harassed?

Thank them for taking the time, if you were to ask the virtue signalling lot

I think the posters getting upset about the OP lacking empathy is probably based on:

a. How can you be so callous and heartless to these suffering people?
b. Do you live in the area?
a. No, but my cleaner does and I'm sure she's delighted with the vibrancy these people bring to her local peoples lives , and the fact that her children can be educated about the problems of addiction by seeing men injecting themselves with heroin on their way to school.

@Theythinkitsalloveritisnow

I think the posters getting upset about the OP lacking empathy is probably based on:

a. How can you be so callous and heartless to these suffering people?
b. Do you live in the area?
a. No, but my cleaner does and I'm sure she's delighted with the vibrancy these people bring to her local peoples lives , and the fact that her children can be educated about the problems of addiction by seeing men injecting themselves with heroin on their way to school.

THIS! It's easy to be empathetic when you don't have to deal with it

Glasgow is the same, city centre is littered with junkies and homeless.
A couple of years ago Argyle street was like a tent city slum.
Part of the problem is as @sst1234 mention, the woke do-gooders giving them money & enabling them - you get it regularly on threads about beggers, the same deluded fools admitting to always giving them something.
Feed the pigeons, attract rats.
A big part of it is also the effective decriminalisation of drugs, there's no disincentive to trying them now is there for those so inclined, so people are more open about taking them which encourages more to try them. If you were guarantee an automatic long spell inside people would be a damn site less open about their drug use.

The addiction support centres just attract groups of them to hang around and end up fighting eachother or harassing passers by. I pass a newly opened one regularly - it's not a pretty sight.

As for the street addicts, I'm frankly surprised Covid didn't wipe more of then out (despite Scotland's world leading drugs deaths stats)- they are hardly the healthiest of people or the most sanitary, I doubt they were washing their hands or wearing masks. (Unlike the genuine, generally harmless, homeless I've seen, camped up in a doorway with their mask on and bottle sanitiser amongst their belongings).

@Theythinkitsalloveritisnow

I think the posters getting upset about the OP lacking empathy is probably based on:

a. How can you be so callous and heartless to these suffering people?
b. Do you live in the area?
a. No, but my cleaner does and I'm sure she's delighted with the vibrancy these people bring to her local peoples lives , and the fact that her children can be educated about the problems of addiction by seeing men injecting themselves with heroin on their way to school.

Yup

When I was a student I used to give cigarettes to a homeless man who begged outside an ATM (he never hassled me for money). We got talking over time. He was ex forces. Ended up homeless after a relationship breakdown. He had drug issues. He'd turned to them to try to deal with the PTSD, which he wasn't given help for by the NHS. He'd been in a hostel but felt safer on the streets. Violence was (and is) rife in hostels. He was desperate to get clean, come off the drugs. Had gone to a substance abuse centre to ask for help. There was a 6 month wait. Almost inevitably he sunk back into the grip of addiction. A chance missed. This was years ago. The situation now, after Osborne's cuts to public services, is much worse.

So everybody suffers. People on the streets, and the people who can't afford to do what politician do and escape to leafy shires.

Unlike the genuine, generally harmless, homeless I've seen, camped up in a doorway with their mask on and bottle sanitiser amongst their belongings

This is a very important bit which many people keep missing.
The beggars/addicts and homeless are in most cases NOT the same.