EVERYONE is a drug dealer

[CommonOrNot]

Bear with me…

I have name changed for this for seemingly obvious reasons. Yesterday, I was at the hairdressers getting my usual weekly services chatting as usual to my hairdresser - who every single week I’m there is dating a new drug dealer. She is very much a “glam” type. Neither of these things are uncommon in my city.

She then turns to the woman next to me and starts chatting about said woman’s partner and when he’s going to be on day release from prison and how he’s getting XYZ done cosmetically but it’s ok because the prison thinks he has a business so the money won’t be from dealing. (In other words, he’s still very much running an enterprise from behind bars). Again not uncommon in my area.

it got me thinking, in my city almost everyone has some sort of connection to dealing drugs. at all levels. I’m not exaggerating, I can’t think of a single person that doesn’t either deal themselves or is close friends with someone who does. All the women are dressed head to toe in designer, surgery, etc. the males have big cars, watches, designer clothes. It’s quite rare to see anyone under 30 without this aesthetic.

the 35+ generation maybe not so much but I would say all people I know in this age bracket absolutely have ties to someone who is a dealer.

before anyone comments that people may have the money for this aesthetic through legitimate reasons, I myself have a “flash” car, designer clothes, cosmetic procedures etc. but through running businesses and my partner being a well payed professional. I’m talking specifically about people that I know are dealers, and when I was thinking about it last night I was actually baffled how there seems to be so many.

PS I know there are people that work to have what they have, I’m talking about my city specifically being particularly dense with criminal activity and I’m wondering if it’s a regional thing or not. Where you are, is this the case?

I suppose it depends what you mean by drug dealer. An old friend of mine smokes weed and used to buy it for her friends who would pay her back. When I was a kid she might have been convicted for supplying for doing that. I’m not sure about now. We’re not friends anymore.

Beyond an experimental puff I have never used drugs, but I know drug users and at least one person who used to be addicted (now recovering).

I think everyone has some connection to drugs but when it comes to knowing people who deal? I’m not so sure.

Other hairdressers must be available surely?

I don't care, there is no excuse.

@User135644 nah, drugs do way too much harm in way too many communities. Much better to just shoot drug dealers, drug importers, drug producers and anyone tangentially connected with it. Honestly, bullets are cheap. We could clean up communities pretty easily.

Welcome to Mumsnet, President Duterte.

I'd sooner have the summary executions to be honest.

@Ramalangadingdong no worries. I work in one of the most deprived parts of the country. The drug dealers are treated like Kings, the community is generally terrified and the damage is blindingly obvious. Multi generational addicts in the family, crime just being part of the every day, anti social behaviour everywhere. Nope. Bullets and buried. So much cheaper.

Maybe not Liverpool itself but could easily be one of the other parts of Liverpool City Region - Halton, Knowsley, Sefton, Wirral or St Helens. To an outsider they may as well be part of Liverpool.

Most ridiculous comment of the thread!!

Sorry my previous post was aimed at responding to this ridiculous comment!

All of the police in Liverpool are corrupt? Absolutely ridiculous!!

People are only guessing Liverpool because of the description of looking dressed up, designer clothes, nice cars, and the OP has already said she isn't in Liverpool.

I've lived in Liverpool my whole 34 years, have a high household income, do like to look good and have designer clothes and bags, a nice car, house in a nice area, kids look good always. But all of that comes from DH and I being hard working professionals who have then gone on to owning our own successful company.

Guess what? I have never once had a conversation about someone knowing or being a drug dealer. Never once been offered drugs. Never even so much as seen weed in person, never mind class A's. If my hairdressers was how the OP describes, I'd move salons in a flash.

I get you OP.
I am absolutely not a drug taker or connected to criminal circles.
BUT:
I know who the dealers on my estate are
I know which of my kids friends come from families that make their money from drugs.
I can name the main crime families in city
I know which off-licences/clubs/dancewear shops/hair and beauty places/security firms/car washes are associated with organised crime.
I can name the local councillor that's also a local criminal and some of the "regeneration" projects he's been involved in.

There is a LOT of it about. It's difficult to ignore.

This. You really do need to be walking around with your eyes closed and your fingers in your ears to not know this.

I'm intrigued by dance wear shops being a common front for organised crime. Are we talking ballet shoes and leotards, or a different kind of shop? What else is likely to be a front, so I can take my blinkers off. My local florist? The dog groomers?

The one I'm thinking of is mostly kids leotards and accessories.
If you're a male drug dealer, it's the kind of thing your girlfriend or sister might like to run. So you set her up as a favour.
And also use it to launder money.
That's how I assume it happened.

It's the company you keep. I live in South London. I imagine drug dealers are everywhere. I can see that drug takers abound too. However I don’t personally know a single drug dealer. I dont have friends or any links with people who speak as your hairdresser and her client did. & Im not naive. Im streetwise enough. There are just certain types I'd never mix with, and certain places I wouldn't go. Most situations are down to who we mix with & where we go in life, arent they?

@seafronty Rodrigo Duterte would definitely have had your vote 😄

How do any of us know that the establishment we go to isn't involved in drug dealing?
Not the physical buying/selling/using, but the end product of the money laundering by the people at the top of the organisation.
The car wash, the nail bar, the salon, the barber's, the restaurant, the shop. Examples of all of those places are owned by the drug barons in my area. A few miles up the road from me the local fruit shop was smuggling firearms in the crates of fruit. Paid for with drug money. The drugs were changing hands via the security staff in a local car park.
I have friends who live in a nice area in Gloucestershire. County lines is a massive problem.

Voted yabu as I don't know any drug dealers. I'm from an area that everyone thinks is super posh though.

Don't think I'm in the same city as you and no most people I know aren't in cahoots with drug dealers, know where to score if needed. However some i know, in law family friends, do live this lifestyle. Never worked a day in their lives yet have flash cars, designer gear, really gross bad taste 'chav' stuff, yet think they are the Kardashians. Claim benefits, one for disability and he is a well known skateboarder in region. So sad but unfortunately they don't have the intelligence or integrity to realise dodgy money doesn't buy class or respect, especially for their poor kids who copy and do the same. To add the extra disgusting attribute has been 'pets', bought at high value to show off and after a while they are not seen or heard of again and I did hear of one incident a puppy was thrown through a window when said Dad was high, no reporting or evidence, just hearsay after but was true. Sorry I'm going in a bit now, guess this triggered me! X

This is what happens when the market is left in the hands of organised crime groups. It's an entirely unregulated thing so everyone can get in on it. Legalise it. Regulate it. Tax it. Problem solved.

When you said organised crime groups for some reason I thought you were referring to the current government.

@SavageTomato no. Thats too expensive and still causes damage.
Execute, bulldoze, bury. That's much better.

I'm from Liverpool and no one I know has anything to do with drugs or tries to be glam. Very much normal people living normal lives. It's the social circle you're in.

Taxing and regulating the government would be an excellent start.