Did we do the right thing? Need some affirmation here...

[Blue_In_AK]

We have a drug house across the street. We've suspected as much since last summer, but we're pretty much live-and-let-live type people so we've just kind of kept an eye on them and made sure we're locked up when we leave, etc. But lately it's just gotten worse and worse. People are coming by at all hours of the day and night; cabs drive up and the drivers either go in themselves or their passengers go in and come right out; two people on bicycles sometimes get at each end of the block to keep lookout while the deals go down. Sometimes there are groups of girls, five or six at a time, that get dropped off, go in and stay for a while. It's just really gotten insane.

It's so bad that our mailman has even noticed and told my husband that he has reported the house to his supervisor. Also one of the other tenants in the fourplex (she says she's a "former" crackhead) says they're doing cocaine, crack and heroin over there, and other things she doesn't even want to talk about, and that they have broken into her apartment and stolen all her food, and now she has to move because she just can't be around all that stuff, given her past addiction. The smell is permeating throughout that building, and not much smells worse than burning crack, in my opinion anyway. My husband just talked to our nextdoor neighbor who has also been paying attention and is concerned.

Finally yesterday we called Crime Stoppers on them. It's the first time in my 61 years I've ever called the cops on anybody. I feel kind of bad about it having done my share of drugs in the past, but it just really bothers me that this is going on here. I mean, if people want to deal drugs, they should at least be discreet about it. This is just a working class little neighborhood, nothing fancy, but we've been trying to spruce up our property, do a little landscaping, etc., and this kind of thing just really brings the neighborhood down. There are kids who live around here.

Did we do the right thing? It was an anonymous call so I don't fear any retaliation, and from the sound of things, other people are calling on them, too, so I'm not afraid of that part. I just have some old left-over phobias about narcing somebody out.

Thoughts?

[electron_blue]

1. Of course. Y ou did the right thing.

Pessimist that I am, though, I doubt it will reduce drug traffic in your neighborhood.

[Deja Q]

2. Yes, you did the right thing.

[flvegan]

3. You took a step in saving your neighborhood.

Like you said, there are kids who live around there. You have property values to think of. Screw them.

[DarkTirade]

4. As much as I'm against the 'war on drugs' crap... I think you did the right thing.

If it's becoming unsafe to live nearby, then it needs to be stopped.

[Tangerine LaBamba]

5. You had no choice

What else could you have done?

That's not narking anyone out. That's just protecting yourself. The old days of narcs looking for folks smoking weed or dropping acid are over and the drugs today are wickedly bad. Not like the good old days, I must say.

So, yes, put me in the "You did the right thing" column.

[Lil Missy]

6. You did the right thing.

:D

[Blue_In_AK]

7. Thanks, you guys...

I feel better now. I agree that it may take a while, but I'm thinking if there are enough complaints from different people around the neighborhood, maybe we can get some action from the police. Crackheads make me nervous. I've known too many of them.

[InkAddict]

8. No call is anonymous anymore.

But, you've taken a step in the right direction; will law enforcement do the same? :shrug:

[Blue_In_AK]

9. I know it's not completely anonymous...

but I don't think the druggies across the street will know that we called, especially since we know now that other people in the neighborhood have alerted on them. They'd have a hard time pinpointing who dropped the dime on them (or quarter, I guess, with inflation).

[pitohui]

10. you did the right thing, thank you!

i won't go into my fraught history here, but fuck the crack houses and fuck the dirty law enforcement officers who 1) provide them with product to cook, 2) look the other way when they're selling


you are right for all the reasons you say -- 1) to protect your neighbor from being exposed to the powerful temptation, 2) to protect kids, and 3) dammit yes, to protect your property values, because you know what? the biggest investment most HONEST people can ever afford to make is in their home and that needs to be respected


you are my hero today

[Blue_In_AK]

12. Thank you.

My little home isn't much, but I've put my blood, sweat and tears into it for the past 17-1/2 years, and I just can't stand to have these people making me feel unsafe in it.

[livetohike]

11. Look at it this way. They're causing a nuisance

You aren't really calling about their drug usage. It's the peripheral stuff that's annoying.

[Midlodemocrat]

13. We did the same thing.

A neighbor's teen was selling drugs out of their home. The neighborhood repeatedly called the police and he finally got busted. He moved away, but now he's back and at it again.

His mother is an absolute asshole for allowing this. She has a younger child, too.

[uppityperson]

14. Smoking a bit of pot? meh. Causing nuisance like they were, yes, call.

Sounds like the house is getting destroyed in the process of housing them, as well as breaking into another apartment.

So long as no one gets hurt, meh. But this sounds like a bigger issue. It's difficult, but good to do it. I've been there, done that, and had to briefly wrestle with living next to a drug house.

[SeattleGirl]

15. I thnk you did the right thing.

It's one thing to do recreational drugs in one's own home, but when it becomes the center of that much activity, that's a different story.

I think narking would be ratting out a neighbor whom you know smokes a bud or something. This is quite a different situation.

[Blue_In_AK]

17. Oh, I would NEVER do that with the buds...

They might retaliate in kind. :evilgrin: I don't care what goes on with the buds. They can have a greenhouse full in their back yard for all I care. It's the kind of drugs that bother me. As I said, I've had enough experience with crackheads to know that I don't want them anywhere near me. (No offense to lurking crackheads here; it's just my experience.)

[mainegreen]

16. Theres a difference between a hippie smoking weed and a crack house.

You did the right thing. And if one call doesn't do it, keep calling again and again. You live across the street from a cancer. Take action before it spreads.

[Truthiness Inspector]

18. YES you did the right thing

and don't doubt it for one minute.

The only thing you are not doing right is questioning your decision and/or possibly feeling guilty. You were 100% correct!

[XemaSab]

19. You did the right thing

Nobody should have to put up with that.

[WritingIsMyReligion]

20. You did the right thing.

Pot, acid, etc. are one breed of drugs--heroin, cocaine, meth, et.al. are a rather more dangerous and stupid breed to mess with. No one needs addictive and toxic things around, particularly of that breed of toxicity.