Have you ever been offered drugs on the street? (neighborhoods, homeless)

[Harrier]

Originally Posted by ambient

Depends which parts of them you're in, at what time, and what you're doing while you're there. As a boring white collar type who hangs out primarily in "nice" areas, I can tell you that in all my years here, no one has so much as randomly offered me a drink of water in the city or anywhere else in the entire Bay area. But I guess I'm getting old. Hell, I'm asleep by 10:30 pm most days.

Your not living anymore - you have to risk something to ever really survive. C'mon - you live in San Francisco - don't act like you live in Oroville for goodness sake.

[silencetheshadows]

I have gotten many offers from weed all over SF: on Market Street, in the Haight for sure, on Randolph St, Ocean Avenue, Golden Gate Park, Dolores Park, S Van Ness... I have been offered oxycodone and heroin numerous times in the Tenderloin, specifically on Leavenworth. Been offered pills out in the Mission too.

This guy out on Randolph Street tried to sell me a bag of weed that was all crumbs for like 20 bucks. When I declined, he lowered his price to five bucks...haha

[rah]

Originally Posted by bigdumbgod

This is, predictably, what happens when a place like the Barbary Coast is invaded by rich people. They really dig the blow.

Cocaine and pills are abused by way more types of people than just the rich, especially if the supplier is some dude on a street corner...just saying.

[rah]

Originally Posted by ambient

As a boring white collar type who hangs out primarily in "nice" areas, I can tell you that in all my years here, no one has so much as randomly offered me a drink of water in the city or anywhere else in the entire Bay area. But I guess I'm getting old. Hell, I'm asleep by 10:30 pm most days.

Well, if you look like you definitely don't ever, EVER, do drugs, ever, or otherwise look unapproachable, than you probably won't be offered any. And there's always that thing called "luck of the draw" as well. But tons of people fit somebody's profile of a potential drug customer, so they get solicited. How nice a neighborhood is doesn't always have anything to do with it...drug dealers are capable of moving around, you know.

[bigdumbgod]

Originally Posted by rah

Cocaine and pills are abused by way more types of people than just the rich, especially if the supplier is some dude on a street corner...just saying.

Chronic poor can't afford cocaine. That's what crack, crank, and speed is for. Pills, though, are getting into the hands of everybody.

[goldenchild08]

Originally Posted by silencetheshadows

I have gotten many offers from weed all over SF: on Market Street, in the Haight for sure, on Randolph St, Ocean Avenue, Golden Gate Park, Dolores Park, S Van Ness... I have been offered oxycodone and heroin numerous times in the Tenderloin, specifically on Leavenworth. Been offered pills out in the Mission too.

This guy out on Randolph Street tried to sell me a bag of weed that was all crumbs for like 20 bucks. When I declined, he lowered his price to five bucks...haha

Hahaha. Everyone who posts regularly on this forum knows I used to live right off Randolph. Randolph definitely was one of the premier open air drug markets in The City and the entire Bay Area during a period from the 80's to sometime in the 90's. Lakeview definitely still is a place where a huge part of the local economy is based on "trappin" as the youngins call it. But it is nothing like it was back in the day. Literally millions of dollars passed through those garbage stack projects on 200 Block on Randolph. That's why so many people got killed there and in the immediate vicinity over the years. When you give unemployed people living in Section 8 in the hood in a big city the opportunity to make thousands of dollars a week by selling drugs, that leads fierce competition for dope fiend dollars and it's not going to be pretty. No different from any inner city in America from Baltimore to Oakland.

When I was a kid in the 80's and 90's, kids as young as maybe ten would ride around Randolph and the surrounding streets on bikes selling weed, crack etc. I remember kids my age riding up to my mother saying they had weed and rocks. Thankfully, I had good parents who never did any drugs, period.

[goldenchild08]

Originally Posted by ambient

Depends which parts of them you're in, at what time, and what you're doing while you're there. As a boring white collar type who hangs out primarily in "nice" areas, I can tell you that in all my years here, no one has so much as randomly offered me a drink of water in the city or anywhere else in the entire Bay area. But I guess I'm getting old. Hell, I'm asleep by 10:30 pm most days.

But that's the thing. In San Francisco, you don't have to go to an ominous ghetto area to be offered drugs. Weed is much more socially accepted in the Bay than anywhere I've been in the country. Golden Gate Park and the Haight are a little gritty, but not really truly dangerous by any means. In GGP and the Haight, you have a bunch of stoners, druggies, homeless people and people who sell weed. For the most part, these people are pretty harmless and just like to smoke weed. Many homeless people in GGP are peace-loving folks who don't work and smoke weed all day in the park and don't really have anything to be mad about. Yes, some of these people are obviously crazy and should be avoided. But you have guys in the Haight and GGP who almost exclusively sell weed to tourists. People come from all over the country and the world to sample the famous natural product of Northern California. It is no secret that Northern California has some of the best weed on the planet. Stoners of means who are well-traveled whole-heartedly agree. Famous Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania stoner rapper, Wiz Khalifa, added San Francisco native, Berner, to his entourage just because Berner has constant access to highest quality bud being the owner of a dispensary.

In other big cities, weed is harder to come across and you pretty much have to go to a dangerous high-crime ghetto area to purchase weed. Weed is harder to come by in other cities because it still may be criminalized in that city, it is less universally socially acceptable locally and there are no medical dispensaries. In NYC, buying weed usually requires a trip to the roughest blocks of Washington Heights. Cops have been busting people for buying weed left and right in New York. Buying weed in Baltimore pretty much guarantees a trip to a sketchy dangerous ghetto area where you will be looking at people in the eye who will not hesitate to kill you if they feel you are out of line in the smallest way. The people selling weed in Baltimore are not peace-loving Hippies. The Baltimore equivalent of the Haight would probably be Lexington Market. However, Lexington Market is much more dangerous than the Haight. Lexington Market is more comparable to the Tenderloin. Just like the 'Loin, Lexington Market is smack in the middle of downtown Baltimore and despite this fact, people still do get killed there pretty regularly. Most people who visit Lexington Market describe it as "scary" and you can feel the ominous vibe in the air as pretty much any ghetto area in America. You might get assaulted by a mentally ill homeless person in the Haight, but you won't be ducking bullets.

[04kL4nD]

Try the Tenderloin late at night. You're bound to score!

[bigdumbgod]

Originally Posted by 04kL4nD

Try the Tenderloin late at night. You're bound to score!

Or at least encounter some kind of exciting "action"!

[gizmo980]

Old thread, I realize, but of course I have! Especially back in my younger days (1990's-ish), when I dressed either grungy or hippie-like... couldn't even walk three steps around Haight, Market, etc, without having someone offer me something. I will refrain from saying whether I accepted or declined every offer, lol.

We used to know which neighborhoods offered which drugs, not necessarily because we wanted them, just for the sake of knowing. Haight/Upper GGP was for (green) weed, acid, and shrooms; Market was for the brown/schwag weed, crack, and maybe other stuff if you asked around; Polk for the meth, ecstasy, and other "party drugs." Not sure if that all still applies, but those were the guidelines when I was young! I'm guessing Polk St has changed in particular, since it used to be like a seedier version of what Castro is now. Is that still true? Haven't been there in a while, except to quickly grab food.

Last time I walked around Haight & GGP, I didn't have ANYONE offer - didn't even get a "need something" whisper from a dreddie! I wasn't looking, but it made me sad because it probably means I'm old & stuffy now.