Unpleasant experience in Carvoeiro

[Ari Gold]

Carvoeiro has been a holiday resort ( sometimes much busier than now ) for over 30 years.
I suspect that the " drug culture " is one form or another has been here for most of that time.
Some of the kids taking drugs now are the offspring of those who did the same thing when they were younger.
The difference now is that so called soft drugs are regarded by some ( including governments ) as not worth the effort to crack down on.,
I asked why the bars owners do not discourage this activity, there was no response from this sector, WHY ??.
When the kids go home so will the dealers and Carvoeiro will return to the place we know and love.
But who wants a year round dead village ??
If the dealers stop selling openly they will just find somewhere else to do it.

The question that should be asked is why are the kids using this stuff and what would it take to stop them.
This question has been asked since I was at school in the late 60.s and no one yet has come up with an answer or a solution.
Supply follows demand .

but in this unwelcome situation supply doesnt follow demand, the drug pushers follow the uninterested tourist..

if the police are not interested, surely the business owners should be lobbying local policitians & the GNR hard to stamp this out.

last year i remember sitting outside a bar with a group of friends near the seafront, there was a dodgy lad in his 40's sitting in the table next to us with a rough looking lady, every now and again 2 young lads would come back to him, be given a bag of something in exchange for money and off they went. Once we realised what was up we quickly got a taxi back to our villa and continued our evening there.

[pickwick]

Ditzy

Of course I am not sure they are herbs. Read the post! The GNR told the Dutch guy they were herbs and I suspect the GNR know the difference between herbs and drugs as does the Dutch guy!!

Pickwick

[ditzy]

Ditzy

Of course I am not sure they are herbs. Read the post! The GNR told the Dutch guy they were herbs and I suspect the GNR know the difference between herbs and drugs as does the Dutch guy!!

Pickwick

Pickwick, I suspect they do know the difference, yes, what I am asking is if the GNR said 'erva' in Portuguese, could it have been translated to herbs and not 'weed'. My reading skills are perfectly fine, thank you.

Either way, as Ari Gold alludes to, I expect the drug 'dealers' mentioned here are about as successful as the gypsies pushing fake designer bags and sunglasses.

[pickwick]

Ditzy

The GNR said

there is not much we can do as they are not selling any drugs for it are only herbs….

I do not know how your "reading skills" translate this to some possibility that the GNR are allowing drugs to be sold in front of their eyes. There is no language confusion - the brats are selling HERBS!

The bigger picture is that your implication that the GNR willfully turn a blind eye to DRUG dealing in Carvoeiro is certainly not helpfull to the (potential) tourists image of the town nor to the economic prospects of the traders in the town. Give the GNR a break, accept that they are not derelict in their duty and leave it at that!!

Pickwick

[ditzy]

Pickwick you have completely misunderstood what I was saying. There are two very different discussions here: one, whether there is a 'drug culture' in Carvoeiro (like EMM says, supply and demand), and two, that these scumbags are a nuisance and are approaching tourists, be it families with young kids or older visitors with teenagers, with what they call 'drugs'.

My question was simply one of whether it was 'lost in translation'. If they really are herbs, fine; do they have a licence to sell herbs? Surely the police could do something about it, whether they're herbs or not. They managed to move on the women who were selling scarves in the street. And as for your second comment, I'm implying nothing of the sort, I know a number of the GNR personally and respect the job they do. I simply think that the matter could well be resolved regardless of what the contents of the bags are.

Also, thank you for helping my "reading skills" with the use of bold and capitals, much appreciated.