[serf]

> I’ve moved as far away from drug users as I could and it was the best decision to increase my productivity, lower my stress, and increase my physical safety I’ve ever made.

i'm honestly unaware of places without drug users, so honest question : did you move away from drug users, or did you move away from users of a specific drug?

The only way I can fathom that someone may be truly away from drug users is that they're also totally away from populations of any kind.

Antarctica comes to mind, but i'd probably be surprised.

[Aurornis]

I think you’re being unnecessarily pedantic. Sure, there are caffeine and marijuana and alcohol users everywhere, but there’s a huge difference between your neighbors quietly having a drink in their home after work compared to loud alcoholics getting in fights and stumbling around on the streets.

When someone says there is a lot of drug activity in a neighborhood, they’re not saying that people are quietly consuming an edible in their basement every once in a while. Problematic drug use seeps into many aspects of social life.

And before anyone assumes that I’m referring to poor neighborhoods, I’m not. One of the most problematic and dangerous drug environments I ever witnessed (in my relatively sheltered life) involved some very well-off young people who got caught up in drugs, then dealing drugs, and then severe addiction that interferes with their judgment to the point that they were getting violent and threatening murder. This was in a well-off community where a number of families ultimately chose to move away to escape the parts of the community with a drug problem and had no regrets for doing so.

I’ve also crossed less dramatic situations where social groups went downhill due to less overt drug use: People who start using unnecessarily high non-therapeutic doses of Adderall to become energized (doesn’t last, causes weird problems over time), people who start using benzos with casual disregard (turns into a dependency very quickly), and even people who casually use opioids for recreation as if it’s a sustainable activity. In each case, the effects of excessive drug use start taking a toll on the person that extends to the social group. Getting away can be like a breath of fresh air.

[eru]

Out of sight, out of mind.

I say that unironically. I don't care what my neighbours do in the privacy of their own home, as long as it doesn't affect me. (Eg as long as tobacco or pot smoke doesn't waft over to me.)

[tmccrary55]

What about neighbors having backyard campfires or BBQers?

[eru]

My objection is mostly based on how much things annoy me, not necessarily on health.

Health-wise backyard campfires and BBQ are probably no better (or worse) than burning tobacco or pot.

Many places already restrict backyard campfires and similar. See eg https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/dec/17/wood-bur...

To expand a bit on my original comment:

> I don't care what my neighbours do in the privacy of their own home, as long as it doesn't affect me.

So I might care about them doing a backyard campfire. If it's both legal and long-standing custom in that neighbourhood, I might just not move there in the first place. If it's illegal and I already live there when they start, I might object.