Current Events > How do you react to tweakers you encounter in public?

(+) Yeah! (+)

I just thought about this earlier as I calmly walked by one without acknowledging them on a sidewalk. Would you recognize one or assume they were just mentally ill? It's hard to tell the difference sometimes... They obviously possess the ability to become dangerous and have no issue being strung out and wandering like zombies in daylight, scratching themselves to get at insects that don't exist and boxing at hallucinations in the air after being up for days on end.

Do you ever encounter tweakers ever? There's definitely a huge homeless problem in surrounding towns/cities where I'm at and I think it has a lot to do with rampant meth abuse.

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I made the mistake of dating one, and not realizing something wasn't right, right away.

Avoid at all costs, via experience. Grew up in multiple bad cities. Know to stay the hell away.

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walk away in the most "i have some important shit i gotta do" way possible

gotta keep in mind theyre not only fucked up on hard drugs, theyre also starving, extremely dehydrated, and havent slept in a week. very dangerous cocktail. its depressing but the best thing you can do is just pretend they dont exist.

i can easily tell the difference between a tweaker and someone whos just disabled but idk how to explain it. its kinda just the vibes that let you know a lot of the time

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Frizzurd posted...

I made the mistake of dating one, and not realizing something wasn't right, right away.

How did it become apparent over time? Was it pretty obvious after a couple days?

CommunismFTW posted...

Avoid at all costs, via experience. Grew up in multiple bad cities. Know to stay the hell away.

Any interesting stories to share?

Ryuko_Chan posted...

walk away in the most "i have some important shit i gotta do" way possible

gotta keep in mind theyre not only fucked up on hard drugs, theyre also starving, extremely dehydrated, and havent slept in a week. very dangerous cocktail. its depressing but the best thing you can do is just pretend they dont exist.

i can easily tell the difference between a tweaker and someone whos just disabled but idk how to explain it. its kinda just the vibes that let you know a lot of the time

Definitely agree with this post. Unfortunately I don't know if I'm savvy enough to know the difference but seeing the way they move it's becoming a little more obvious to me now than my first encounter with these irl zombies.

I'm kind of sheltered tbh.

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https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=hHnGEligX4c

Pretend not to notice them. Walk in another direction than wherever they are, even if it's not where you're heading.

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Kombucha posted...

Any interesting stories to share?

More than a few. Some oneoffs. The first I was walking home late at night and I saw one way down the street. Itching, twirling arms, the works. I ducked into a side street but kept facing the way I came to see if I couldn't be shadowed. He ran, as fast as I've seen a human being run, after a car. Looked like he was catching up to it at 25-30mph.

Another was more up close and personal. A guy I know is a tweaker came into my store one time, I was the only one working. He seemed like it was an "off" cycle and he was lucid, so he was just tidying up some documents in his backpack and talking about life. He went to the bathroom, another customer comes in, and when he comes out he flips shit because she's "in his space" and gets uncomfortably close to her and fast. He picks up a pair of scissors and looks right at me, giving me time to signal her to come around the counter and be next to me. He was visibily cranked out of his mind -- hit the bathroom to use. Sigh.

Dude lights up about some conspiracy shit and I just start calmly talking to him about how badass his hoodie, hat, shoes, etc were. That it was so cool having a city hero or some dumbass shit I pulled out of my ass, in my store, and was making him feel ridiculously welcome and appreciated. He lost track of his aggression and promptly left (without paying for anything) but the woman was flabbergasted that it ended so well, and thanked me.


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some fat lady once screamed at my dad accusing him of being the shapeshifting lizardman known as prince charles

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Hayame Zero posted...

Pretend not to notice them. Walk in another direction than wherever they are, even if it's not where you're heading.

I think I'll do this next time instead of walking on by.

Ryuko_Chan posted...

some fat lady once screamed at my dad accusing him of being the shapeshifting lizardman known as prince charles

But was he?

CommunismFTW posted...

More than a few. Some oneoffs. The first I was walking home late at night and I saw one way down the street. Itching, twirling arms, the works. I ducked into a side street but kept facing the way I came to see if I couldn't be shadowed. He ran, as fast as I've seen a human being run, after a car. Looked like he was catching up to it at 25-30mph.

Another was more up close and personal. A guy I know is a tweaker came into my store one time, I was the only one working. He seemed like it was an "off" cycle and he was lucid, so he was just tidying up some documents in his backpack and talking about life. He went to the bathroom, another customer comes in, and when he comes out he flips shit because she's "in his space" and gets uncomfortably close to her and fast. He picks up a pair of scissors and looks right at me, giving me time to signal her to come around the counter and be next to me. He was visibily cranked out of his mind -- hit the bathroom to use. Sigh.

Dude lights up about some conspiracy shit and I just start calmly talking to him about how badass his hoodie, hat, shoes, etc were. That it was so cool having a city hero or some dumbass shit I pulled out of my ass, in my store, and was making him feel ridiculously welcome and appreciated. He lost track of his aggression and promptly left (without paying for anything) but the woman was flabbergasted that it ended so well, and thanked me.

That last story kind of reminded me of all the times I've tried to calm nutty ass drunks that flip into a bad mood. I've been in their shoes though, but it doesn't make it any less annoying or less insane. There probably is more of a snap between lucid and aggressive with the harder drugs though.

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Kombucha posted...

There probably is more of a snap between lucid and aggressive with the harder drugs though.

yes

cuz alcohol makes you hungry, tired and thirsty so the extreme alcohol addicts dont spend their days starving, sleep deprived and dehydrated

meth and crack and shit makes it so you cant sleep, eat or drink

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Ryuko_Chan posted...

yes

cuz alcohol makes you hungry, tired and thirsty so the extreme alcohol addicts dont spend their days starving, sleep deprived and dehydrated

meth and crack and shit makes it so you cant sleep, eat or drink

Good points.

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... And some people STILL want to legalize drugs. Give me a break.

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Vicious_Dios posted...

... And some people STILL want to legalize drugs. Give me a break.

i would rather addicts be doing their drugs in a private sanitized space with proper needle disposals and medical staff than i would them out in the middle of the street staying up for weeks leaving needles around, overdosing and frightening people

the choice isnt "legalize drugs or end drug addiction", people will be druggies no matter how harsh the punishment is. the war on drugs has failed. all it does is push fucked up people to become even more fucked up.

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