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Because OP is from China, I suspect that his worries are colored be conditions of West coast cities like SF, LA, Seattle, and Portland, where the congregation of homeless/druggies is in your face if you wander into the wrong places. (Philly too in the East.) But even in these cities these concentrations take up relatively little land — there are plenty of normal, safe, ordinary neighborhoods. In most US cities the big open air drug markets, and especially the homeless, tend to be dispersed in smaller areas away from where most residents live.
For DC - maybe the area around Gallery Place / Chinatown (some alleyways were well known open air drug market), but even there the things are much tamer than the likes of Kensington.
Pretty sure part of SoDo in Seattle has some concentration, as is the long time concentration around Old Town / Chinatown, Skidmore Fountains, and under Burnside Bridge in Portland OR.
Gallery Place/Chinatown has been completely cleared out. The city established a “drug free zone” which doesn’t allow people to loiter which is really what this discussion is about.
I think a lot of homeless in NYC hang out in Central Park. Maybe not camps per se, but that is where they hang out and sleep (on benches).
I guess this would only be a late night thing? I can’t imagine the place being full of homeless during the day when it’s filled with entertainers, vendors, people playing soccer, police, etc. I haven’t noticed this during my recent walks through there.
Because OP is from China, I suspect that his worries are colored be conditions of West coast cities like SF, LA, Seattle, and Portland, where the congregation of homeless/druggies is in your face if you wander into the wrong places. (Philly too in the East.) But even in these cities these concentrations take up relatively little land — there are plenty of normal, safe, ordinary neighborhoods. In most US cities the big open air drug markets, and especially the homeless, tend to be dispersed in smaller areas away from where most residents live.
Also probably colored by CCP propaganda, which exaggerates US domestic issues to convince their citizens that the US is a terrible place to live.
'Drug user paradise' is a pretty comical way of phrasing it. The media has sensationalized this issue for a few years now, though it is true that an opiate epidemic continues to exist. It's just that the vast, vast majority of that use is occurring in private, not on the street or in other public spaces
The main issue the US is dealing with at the moment is the Fentanyl, which is killing thousands here annually. The vast majority of the Fentanyl trade originates as precursor chemicals produced in China that are exported to Mexico where drug cartels produce Fentanyl for the US market.
Cities on the West Coast (Los Angels, San Francisco, Portland, Seattle) have more of what you've called "drug user paradise" (personally, I think hell is a better description). This is largely due to a lager, more visible, issue of homelessness. Homeless drug addicts don't have privacy to hide their drug use, so you're more likely to see people on the street shooting up or otherwise using in such areas.
So what you're really asking about are cities with high rates of unsheltered homeless, which varies greatly across the US ( https://www.brookings.edu/articles/h...and-downtowns/ ) This means you'll find what you describe in places like SF and Seattle, and much less so in Boston and New York City.
So, no, your perception of this as a uniform problem across the entire US isn't accurate.
Because OP is from China, I suspect that his worries are colored be conditions of West coast cities like SF, LA, Seattle, and Portland, where the congregation of homeless/druggies is in your face if you wander into the wrong places. (Philly too in the East.) But even in these cities these concentrations take up relatively little land — there are plenty of normal, safe, ordinary neighborhoods. In most US cities the big open air drug markets, and especially the homeless, tend to be dispersed in smaller areas away from where most residents live.
I myself has not visited the US in person, and I saw numerous videos showing the messy streets full of homeless and druggies. So my guess is maybe 20%-30% of the streets of major US cities are like this .
The main issue the US is dealing with at the moment is the Fentanyl, which is killing thousands here annually. The vast majority of the Fentanyl trade originates as precursor chemicals produced in China that are exported to Mexico where drug cartels produce Fentanyl for the US market.
Cities on the West Coast (Los Angels, San Francisco, Portland, Seattle) have more of what you've called "drug user paradise" (personally, I think hell is a better description). This is largely due to a lager, more visible, issue of homelessness. Homeless drug addicts don't have privacy to hide their drug use, so you're more likely to see people on the street shooting up or otherwise using in such areas.
So what you're really asking about are cities with high rates of unsheltered homeless, which varies greatly across the US ( https://www.brookings.edu/articles/h...and-downtowns/ ) This means you'll find what you describe in places like SF and Seattle, and much less so in Boston and New York City.
So, no, your perception of this as a uniform problem across the entire US isn't accurate.
Thank you for your effort to explaination of my question, and the information reference. I have now a better understanding of the issue.
I am still wondering if China should be blamed for drug abuse in the US. Why the producing of precusor chemicals does not generate so many druggies in China itself
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