it will be okay. we all go through this some time or another 🙁

TBH this is fairly normal for anyone above age 25 who is not a regular user of illegal drugs, nor heavily addicted.

One reason is because the feds and other criminal justice authorities (though a lot more lenient than the 90s) judge folk a lot harsher as they get older. A teenager or young adult is allowed a bit of leeway, but someone who regularly breaks the law for selfish reasons or out of petulance will not just get harsher and harsher criminal penalties but may be judged as mentally ill! There is some tolerance given for genuine political activism (like eco warriors what chain themselves to the atomic power station) unless there is lots of damage or trouble or other crime, but simple hedonism isn’t tolerated, you’re expected to have grown up by then. And it is the same even in more tolerant countries overseas. That doesn’t mean folk miraculously stop taking drugs or partying when they turn 30, but they might have to be more discreet about their lifestyles and ensure it doesn’t affect work performance or any other duties (parenthood etc).

So unless someone in their 30s or 40s has no other regular legit income and dealing is a major earner they are unlikely to be distributing drugs and if/when they do so its usually at a level where its not small amounts and if they are lucky, SOCA puts the door off the hinges at 6am. Even then they look (and to some extent are) often “respectable family men”, there was this report in the Grauniad where even a senior detective said she found some aspects of the job really hard to cope with like having to bust a family over the Xmas holidays and open up all the kids christmas presents to ensure that they weren’t where drugs/money or anything else was stashed. But at least its only 5-10 years if they haven’t hurt anybody and sometimes they can rebuild their lives.

The unlucky ones are the ones what go glug in the North Sea and no one particularly mourns them (as often they are selling the “nastier” varieties of substance and worse end up grooming vulnerable younger folk into doing their dirty work), and a fair few do go that way both here and in NL and surrounding nations…