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Comment by meddlepal | Hacker News Reader

I'm always amazed by comments like this... I've traveled to cities all over the US, wandered around streets late at night, hung out in seedy bars, and generally look pretty scruffy and never once has anyone offered me drugs.

Maybe they think I'm a narc.

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Or maybe you just didn't notice. I've been offered drugs in New York City a ton of times, even in places like right next to Times Square which are swarming with cops 24/7. The guys in busy places are especially slick about it. They walk by without stoping and more or less whisper in your direction "weed, coke, got what you need" or something like that and just keep moving. The first couple times that happened to me I was legitimately confused, because I didn't think they'd be broadcasting it so openly like that.

In Osaka they aren’t even slick about it though. I mean, I guess they know I’m not police because I’m a foreigner, but otherwise...really?

Another anecdote here, but I've had the opposite experience and have had people make offers ranging from extremely sketchy folks in back alleys to someone selling edibles out in the open at a nicely decorated table (but still illegally).

Life is weird sometimes.

I was straight up offered weed in or around Detroit on a couple occasions. I found it more amusing than insulting, but I do wonder what this says about my appearance. Maybe it’s the long hair.

It's been a while since I've gone into NYC but in the 2000s it was common to be offered drugs exiting the Port Authority bus terminal, Penn Station, or walking around Union Square, with a casualness like asking for the time. Whether the drugs offered were real or not, I wouldn't know.

It's the opposite. If you're being offered "drugs" by people on the street, it's because you look like a mark.

You're looking at things exactly backwards.

In a big city in the USA, if you want to be offered drugs on the street, you need to look well put together, and be in a luxury district.

Stay in a high end boutique hotel in manhattan, dress well, and you'll have someone offer you drugs almost every day.

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