Druggies begging… an ongoing problem
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Posts
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Quote from Sheefag :
Your solution of appeasement, midnight vigils, lighting tealights and singing Kumbaya with your sandal wearing, Muesli knitting mates, clearly isn’t working.
Have thought this about many issues, terrorists, shooters you name it, it don’t solve nowt.
Begging is not just a drug issue it could be that some of them are alcoholics needing their bottle sherry or 2 tr bottle of cider.
Council Watcher is right we all need to look at our own family and friends and see how many of them could be sliding into this very murky world. We must all stop talking about people in our own families as if they may only have a small problem that relatives and friends can control- how many people have a family aunty or uncle who is always referred to as “they like a few drinks” when what we really mean is they are drinking too much.
As for begging, I don’t agree with Sheefag is you sweep them all up from the street then wait for the next cohort and do the same. Surely that is an ever decreasing spiral and an acceptance that Society has no solution.
Full agree with needing to cut off the supply and then something may be able to be done- sort out the Mr Bigs of the supply chain and then there could be hope. Whilst there is big money to be had from introducing someone to a life of misery then there will always be a Mr Big who will move from the supply of one type of substance to a new one.Wrexham is known in the wider region as “the place to be” for these types. And it’s easy to see why…
The public is especially tolerant – look on any Wrexham Facebook Group and you see a lot of sympathy with them. Any empty building and there are immediate calls to turn it into more accommodation for homeless drug addicts (as per the opening post here) In other places they are not regarded as fondly.
Tolerance also by the “powers that be” – they are largely left to it by the police and were also allowed to camp by the Groves relatively unhindered. Other areas have a “zero tolerance” approach to these poor individuals.
A number of unofficial charities set up to provide things like food, clothes and other essentials, meaning that they can spend their benefits on “a bit of what they fancy” (drugs, alcohol etc). Public donations also help with this.
Excellent support services in the town – a real “one stop shop”. Sadly in other towns and cities in the region these have either been moved out of town or closed altogether due to public services cuts, or to keep things like libraries or youth clubs open.
The view of “Excellent support service” maybe that of the users it certainly is not the view from the public — if “All” of these services were excellent doing what they should be then we would not have the visible issues that we have.
There is no way that they can be defined as excellent services as they are totally failing to tackle the issues that are present-
As I stated earlier my concern is that so little seems to be in place for our teenagers that there is a huge risk that we are potentially bringing up the next generation of street alcoholics and drug abusers. In all honesty, it is probably too little too late for the current group and all that can be done is to plan their palliative case as they are fast approaching the time when they will be dead.
Invest now in our young people to try and reduce the chance of them slipping into this decrepit lifestyle.*sets down muesli knitting
Surely locking up the drug addicts is treating the symptom and not the root cause. It is the drug dealers which need to be targeted.
It’s they who take advantage of the weak and vulnerable and people at their lowest ebb. This is where any member of society can find themselves given the right set of circumstances.
Lock up the dealers and treat the addicts (like we do for any other addiction) to break the cycle.Now where’s me sandals?
Thanks everyone for your comments. I agree with many of your comments in that there are genuine homeless people who beg to get food and drink, however I also agree that there are the druggies or alcoholics who beg for their next fix or can of polish beer.
It gladdens me to know that so many Wrexham people will go out of their way to give food or money to someone who is begging, but it really saddens me to know that many of these same Wrexham people are being taken for MUGS as the money they give is just going to pay for drink or drugs.
I won’t tar all beggers with the same brush because there MUST be some who are genuine and want to do something to get themselves off the streets. There are now so many begging that I have no idea who IS genuine and therefore refuse to give to anyone, but will instead give to the Salvation Army Man, or homeless charities where I know the money IS going to help the genuine Homeless who DO want to be helped.
I know some people don’t like long posts so I will start a new one to continue…
[quote quote=149328]*sets down muesli knitting
Surely locking up the drug addicts is treating the symptom and not the root cause. It is the drug dealers which need to be targeted.
It’s they who take advantage of the weak and vulnerable and people at their lowest ebb. This is where any member of society can find themselves given the right set of circumstances.
Lock up the dealers and treat the addicts (like we do for any other addiction) to break the cycle.Now where’s me sandals?[/quote]
Lock ’em all up I say, users and suppliers. If they want treatment, let them get treatment inside – once they’re clean they can come out on licence but when they’re inside, they’re not offending and the decent people don’t have to tolerate them.
It’s quite simple really.
When I was younger I had this idealistic view of helping the homeless and felt so sorry for them. Now I am older, I see the thieving, the drug dealing, the litter, the abuse and the sheer cheek of some of them.
They sit outside Sainsburys ( why do they allow it? ) outside doorways in Island Green and are given loads of food, money and cups of Costa Coffee!
Then they go off with £50-£100 in their pockets, buy drugs to take and to deal!People PLEASE stop giving them directly and please give to the charities that deal with them.
And one other thing, do any of them actually look like they are starving????? Look at the poor in India for example and compare them to our homeless!
Ideally, throw them out of the town and let decent people shop in peace!
Janey[quote quote=149453]When I was younger I had this idealistic view of helping the homeless and felt so sorry for them. Now I am older, I see the thieving, the drug dealing, the litter, the abuse and the sheer cheek of some of them.
They sit outside Sainsburys ( why do they allow it? ) outside doorways in Island Green and are given loads of food, money and cups of Costa Coffee!
Then they go off with £50-£100 in their pockets, buy drugs to take and to deal!People PLEASE stop giving them directly and please give to the charities that deal with them.
And one other thing, do any of them actually look like they are starving????? Look at the poor in India for example and compare them to our homeless!
Ideally, throw them out of the town and let decent people shop in peace!
Janey[/quote]Is any of this from factual based evidence or personal observation?
1) What evidence do we have to suggest that they are raking in £50-£100 per day? £63 is roughly National Living Wage for 8 hours works. So yea most people would be pretty annoyed if that was the case, doing a hard day’s work vs begging.
2) Same question about them actually being dealers – are there known drug dealers begging around Island Green? Or is this speculation?
3) Do they look starving? – not sure how anyone can judge that at a glance unless we start sending nutritionists about to scrutinise them. Or measure the output and do a count on how many doorsteps they are defecating on a day.
4) Throwing Wrexham residents out of their own birth town because they are homeless? Where are we sending them? To congregate around all the villages in the county? Or are we dumping them on the Cheshire/Denbighshire/Flintshire borders?
I’ve heard them telling each other how much money they can make and know one from school who has confirmed the amounts they can beg on a daily basis actually. So yep!, from the horses mouth!
I also know a few of them have been done for drug dealing and know for a fact they deal as I have seen them dealing to teens in the bus station.
You know exactly what I mean about them looking hungry so stop trying to be sarcastic because you failed miserably.
Not all are Wrexham born and bred, lots come in from other areas. And yes!, even if they are Wrexham residents, if they are littering, begging, dealing in drugs, throw them out of the town!!!
Janey
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