Moral Dilemma.. Illegal substances.

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I'm not usually one to air my problems on an open internet forum, but my wife and I are at a bit of a loss as to what to do on this one, the regulars on the building forum already know the practical aspect, so here is the moral one:

We recently bought a house which we're doing up (see occasional posts on here). It's on a fairly well established estate with a good community atmosphere. Everyone seems to know everyone and kids play in the street and it's all really quite nice.

Apart from our immediate neighbours. :(

The major problem is someone in that house likes the green stuff. Really likes it. In itself it wouldn't be an issue, but it's making our place stink, especially the adjoining rooms. We've gone to some lengths (see post 'Smelly neighbours') but as soon as they open a window, it doesn't matter what we do. The only solution I think is to get them to stop smoking it.

The way I see it, we have 2 options: Direct confrontation, or indirect action.

If I go for direct confrontation and simply up and ask them to stop, I run the risk of a refusal. Things are cordial at the moment, I'd like to keep it that way for as long as possible. If I get a refusal then that simply leaves plan B which getting the authorities involved.

I get the impression that the fuzz won't be that concerned with someone who enjoys the odd bong at home, however as it's a council house, the council (I belive) would be in breach of the misuse of drugs act if they knowingly let the house be used for illegal activity. The fact there are kids there would also get the social services antenna twiching - I'd hope.

The problem is if I go for indirect action, I've no idea of the consequences. It could be anything from a visit from the social telling them the new neighbours have complained, or a full-blown dawn raid, carting the whole lot of them away. I'm inclined to believe it'll be more like the former..

As we're new to the area, we've still no idea how this particular family fit into the social scene. They're popular, in the sense they have a lot of visitors, however I'm not sure they all stop in for a cup of tea and a chat, a lot of the visits are quite short. Which has raised the suspicion that there's a bit more going on than simply smoking the green stuff. The son in particular has a lot of 'mates' or kids of his age stopping around.

We've tried approaching the neighbours on the other side (our next door but one) to see if they've got a similar complaint, however they're rarely in during the week, and I heard a rumour that he might be connected with the police (or ex) which explains why the weekends seem to be less herbals. We've put a note through their letterbox, but to no avail, either ignored or not seen yet..

Now we're at a bit of a loss of what else to do, other than canvass opinions and suggestions. I don't want a war, I don't want to upset anyone, but more importantly I don't want my house stinking of skunk.

So anyone got any ideas? Thoughts, suggestions, past experiences?
 
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I get the impression that the fuzz won't be that concerned with someone who enjoys the odd bong at home, however as it's a council house,
Always keep it polite, have a friendly chat with them and quoting you're concern there's a smell around the fireplace area and are they having any problem? You can then tell them you will get the council to check it out and investigate the smell. This way you haven't gone behind their back

I'm a great believer building a good relationship with neighbours, this way you have a better chance of agreement
 
Hi mate, my other half has 2 sons who are addicted to the stuff.

A few years when we all lived in same house our neighbour knocked to say same thing as happening to you. The boys smoked the stuff in their bedroom and neighbour complained (nicely) that it seemed to go through and stink out their joining bedroom.

The boys agreed to smoke it outside or in the shed and we didn't have anymore complaints.

To be honest our house stunk of it and after more than a few arguments over it I moved out myself.

My other half has now moved into my flat and through her sons addiction has lost her car and house.
 
I would not approach them direct, because if they turn nasty even if you take no further action and someone else does, you will be the one they blame.

Phone Crime Stoppers and tell them that you have seen a shotgun and ammunition being taken into the house.

Do not give them any information other than the address.

While you might not get any serious problems from the neighbours if they know you are an informant, their suppliers will not take kindly to you interfering with one of their customers.
 
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Though not condoning the use of drugs, smoking it at home has less impact on society than, would be the case if they were driving a car stoned out of their minds, with the possibility of killing someone.

If however you feel the amount is excessive and they have an unusual number of visitors, a call to crime stoppers, telling them you suspect an illegal growing operation is taking place, might bring some results.
But expect some flack, if they are providing a local service for the community.

Wotan
 
turn your house into a crack den, see how they like it ;)

seriously though, u can grass them up anonymously. do it. Wouldn't confront them, cos if it doesnt work and then you grass them up, they'll suspect you straight away. I used to buy some stuff(i was a student :p) off a guy who lived in a house like that, so i wouldnt be surprised if theyre dealing. Parents didnt care and on it aswell.
 
I worked on council refurbs some years ago, and one of the houses like your neighbour smoked and had a very large no. of visitors. They weren't dealing drugs but were excellent shoplifters!!!! The council must have been aware of the drugs cos the house reeked, and they visited pretty much daily during the refurb. they had 2 kids about 10 and 12yrs. The council did nothing.....!
Good luck
 
Relations between us and next door are quite good at the moment, though we can't quite figure out what the getup is, but She runs the house (largely by screaming at whichever kid is upsetting her at the time) and we've been upfront about our plans to renovate and always ask before starting anything noisy like drilling or demolition. The family is fairly well established, having moved recently from another part of the estate.

We're quite confident they're not growing - we got a look around the place shortly after moving in when we compared notes on the layout of our houses (the original layout is a bit wierd).

Not sure about the whole fire-arms tipoff- there's 3 kids in there :(

I think there's some sort of authority interested in the place already, as we've spotted a smart-ish looking lady with a clipboard paying visits.

Thing is, if they are dealers, they aren't being that smart about it. Back in the day I lived in the middle of Bristol and my neighbours (I learned later) were dealers, and they were the best neighbours I had - not a peep, no noise, no smells no inconvenience at all. You'd think if you were being that nefarious you'd keep a low profile and not attract unwanted attention. So they're either supremely confident, or extremely stupid. Probably the latter, but I can't risk the former - we both work full time, the house is vulnerable being mid-renovation, and we're new to the area.
 
If you do dob them in do it from a payg mobile, do not under any circumstances use a landline.
Not commenting either way but you have choice to make only you can do that.
 
Now this is a hard one ? me myself would be inclined to move on here ,sell the house i mean , you see i live on a council estate here, 5 mile north of manchester and the one thing people dont take kindly to is being grassed on ,do we take it your living in this property or just doing it up to let ,avnt yet read ur previous posts ,sorry . And if you confront them depending on there nature you could get a amicable solution but i suspect knowning and seeing firat hand weed smokers ,not me i must had ,your most likely responce is abuse which could inturn make your life a living hell av seen it a few times around here ,think i would be very very cautious in your approach here even to the point of making a mild comical jokey comment to them to test their reaction ? but please be careful ,also their council wont to be willing to do much about either ,because it costs the council money to do so ,they only act if absolute have to .
 
@ian - Exactly, we bought the place to live in, not to rent out. Moving on isn't really an option, given what we've invested in the place so far.

The vibe we (still) get from the neighbourhood ins't hostile, yes, it's a former council estate, but most the residents have been there decades, bought their house, done it up nice and want to have a nice quiet existance with their grand-kids playing in each others gardens. We'd kinda like to stick around, not go to war with the residents.
 
If you call Crime Stoppers you can use either as they do not trace calls. If they did, no one would trust them, would they.

http://crimestoppers-uk.org/giving-information/how-to-give-information

If you dial 999 they automatically pick up your number.

All calls on a landline are logged whether to 999 or not, tracing is no longer required and has not been necessary for many years, ic/og calls are logged at the exchange and can be called up for any legal purpose, or sometimes not.
 

All calls on a landline are logged whether to 999 or not, tracing is no longer required and has not been necessary for many years, ic/og calls are logged at the exchange and can be called up for any legal purpose, or sometimes not.[/quote]

Us mere mortals still use the term trace, we know all calls are logged as we get them listed on our bills and have done for some years.

We even use trace when talking about caller display.

If I phoned you and you had caller display, my number would not show up, neither would you get it by dialling 1471.

If I dialled 999 it would immediately show up on the call centre screen. That is what I meant. Mr Pedantic pants. ;)
 
Us mere mortals still use the term trace, we know all calls are logged as we get them listed on our bills and have done for some years.

We even use trace when talking about caller display.

If I phoned you and you had caller display, my number would not show up, neither would you get it by dialling 1471.

If I dialled 999 it would immediately show up on the call centre screen. That is what I meant. Mr Pedantic pants. ;)

You would be surprised at the amount of information that you think is hidden that actually isn't, btw ex BT Exchange and Network Engineer
;)
 
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