Worried about my drug addict neighbour...

[nat_84]

Right, I've got a real issue...and a bloody long story!!

About 8/9 years ago a family moved in next door to us. They are a black jamaican family, have been bought up in England (not sure if the mother was born here or Jamaica). Anyway, the mother lives there with her three kids (22 and 17 yr old boys and a 14 year old girl).

I went to secondary school with her eldest. He was a lovely, polite, intelligent and handsome boy. I never really spoke to him much at school other than the "hello, u ok?" everytime we saw each other...

They (mother and eldest) smoke skunk on a regular basis.... we smell it coming through our windows almost daily! Extremely strong! As they're Jamaican we respect there culture and we also get on with them extremely well - they cause us no problems and are in fact great neighbours (despite the skunk smell..lol)!

Now and then he (eldest) hangs around in the flats stairways with some of his friends - which normally i'd find extremely threatening but being as we know most of them i find it ok... except when there are boys i'm not familiar with.

ANYWAY (sorry to drag on....), alarmingly me and my boyfriend were coming up the stairs to my flat the other day and he was there with one other friend and a dog...
he asked if i was pregnant and said congratulations to both me and my fella, we said thanks etc and carried on walking. He then called my name and said "i NEED to ask you a question now", he asked us whether we thought he looked like a "crack head"....

My honest opinion, (and me and my mum discussed it recently) was that he had looked terrible, his eyes were dead and he lost all his charm...

cont..........

[nat_84]

I believed he wasnt on crack and that such damage could easily be the cause of addiction to skunk.
I was extremely scared... he was really close up in our faces, wearing a big black sweater and black wooly hat.

Main reason i was scared was because i was worried for him, he revealed sooo much - and this was all coming from someone i hardly ever speak to!

He told us his mum accused him of being a crack user, he lost �1400, he thought he had mouth cancer, kept going on about his mouth being dry, how he robs crack users but also how he wanted to stop it all and do an accounts course and come clean, but explained that the money he earns dealing dugs could never be matched in an ordinary job and also that being a young balck male that doesnt speak the "queens english" (MY WORDS NOT HIS) would never be able to get an office job etc.

He then started crying to us!! And told us he'd been crying to a friend of his that same day.

Also informed us that 8 other boys were waiting for him in the stairways recently when his mum was in jamaica and he was worried for his younger siblings saftey so bought 2 GUNS!!!

To say i couldnt sleep that night was an understatement...

I'm still keep thinking about him and worrying...he's told us he's moved to Hackney and yesterday afternoon we saw him strolling up and down the streets talking and shouting loudly and we saw him race up to three young (about 10yr old) boys and demand that they "never ever smoke THIS" holding a spliff!

He's completely lost it....and i cant stop worrying about him, thinking that he's going to get killed and kill (!!)....especially with all the gun crime in London these days. Me and Karl were laying in bed yesterday saying how much we wanted to get out of England!!!

Any advice or words of wisdom?!

SORRY FOR THIS HUGLEY LONG QUESTION/STORY needed to get it off my chest!!!

[johnlambert]

Get out of England and go where nat?
I've been around the world a few times and there is nowhere that doesnt have a drugs/gun crime problem, living in the Uk we have a free press that delights in reporting bad news.
Perhaps you should think about moving to a safer area? with a baby on the way do you think that where you live now is safe enough to bring up a baby? I dont wish to sound patronising but you need to put your little one first nat.

[4getmenot]

basically its his life. thats all I can say, you have enough on your plate at the minute if he is silly enough to do these drugs you cant stop that

[nat_84]

I know what ur saying John... everywhere has its problems. Luckily i wont be living there by the time my babys born - the house i'm talkng about is my parents home where i've always lived... and i cant wait to move!!!

I cant hekp but feel sorry for him though!!! And i'm also scraed $hitless should i bump into him in the stairway again - so i think i'll be using th ealternative entrance/exit! He did say he's moved out of his mums - but then i couldnt understand why he was still hanging around our stairs?!

He wasnt making much sense and i just think its sad to see it happen as i remember him back in school as a nice boy.

I also think its got a lot to do with who these boys end up getting involved with... gangs etc....

[4getmenot]

you may feel sorry but johnlambert is right you should put you baby first and getting involved will just be bad for you. Keep yourself to yourself until maybe you can find somewhere else to stay as canabis smells in your house cant be good for you or your baby when it is born.

[nat_84]

I see what ur saying 4getmenot. I'll do my best to avoid him anyway.

I completely agree with you pa__ul. He is crying out for help as its clear no one else is listening to him. He told me that he thought he had mouth cancer and when he told the doctor she just laughed at him - and he was sooo upset explaining this to us.

I'm sure its all part of paranoia from smoking so much... but you'd still expect more from a doctor!!

He needs serious help quickly... believe it or not his mums a drugs councillor!! But he said she cant speak to him for 10 minutes without breaking down... it's up to her, as his mother to get him help and quickly!

[nat_84]

I think my mum will say something if she sees her. They're pretty close but not THAT close. But my mum is gonna say if she ever needs to talk about anything then she can always knock or come in for a cuppa tea or something... suppose thats all we can do to help for the time being....

[foxydivano1]

I havent read your whole post but feel that it shouldnt matter if he and his family are Jamaican or not....

[nat_84]

well maybe you should read the whole post before commenting....

[foxydivano1]

that wasnt a dig - it just seemed you were making more of a deal about where his descendants were from than anything else!