I'd actually like to know how you would define a "street person", and how the Big Issue organisation would define them. I think many people believe that Big Issue vendors are supposed to be homeless - sleeping in a bag on the ground or under a hedge. What are the rules on who gets to be a vendor and how long they can stay as a vendor?
Right you are allowed to sell the Big Issue if you are homeless or in vulnerable accomadation like a Hostel thats the actuall rules.,
When i sold it n we are talkin about 1999/2001 i was in a hostel thus making me vulnerable to being made homeless.
I sold it in my home town & Glasgow as well i was proper;y street homeless in Glasgow for a while n then i hooked up with another vendor who let me stay at her flat so i was still techincally homeless.
You have to adear to a strict code n are given a probation period when you first start they try n make it as much like a real job as poss. also all your magazines will have a no. on them which will tie in with your badge no. so if you are taking the piss a member of the public can report you n cos the no. on the magazine links to your badge if you give magazines to other people like Wcote claims his friends do you will get de badged if you are caught.
I would describe the street lifestyle as roughly spending most of your time on the streets n using the outreach and soup kitchens that are availible also it's kinda like a community with rules n you generally look out for other folk in the same boat although this is often not the case n their is a fair bit of scrapping n such over booze mainly no surprises their !!
As i mentioned i lived the street lifestyle for years despite having stable accomadation the reason for this is you get stuck in a cycle of daily drug use (physicall addiction ) or alchololisim and your only freinds are other folk who have the same problems .
So you start to rely on each other hence the i'll lend you £20 till yer pay day if you lend me £20 n so on these arangements can cary on for years !!
IIts a really hard cycle to break as you form really strong bonds with yer mates and because other members of society identify you as a Street person they generally judge you without even realising.
I stopped living like that on the 5 th of Jan last year n its still really early days i have managed to hook up with some of my old friends but most of em won't trust me n atre judgemental , the way isee it is if they are gonna be like that i don't need them .
Although i was living like this for about 15 years i strill managed to go abroad on extended holidays n such like i said i was in Portugal for over a year n was homeless their for a short while.
Due to the way addiction makes you change the way you think i can find an angle in a circle if i need to or i needed money for Heroin when i was sick.
At the height of my problem io was doing about 2 grams of gear a day and 1 gram of crack i will leave it to you to work out how this was payed for it doesn't take much imagination n didn't involve any crimes aginst other people like theft .
This is a very honest post n i would hope that you all can respect that it wasn't easy to write n i have left out loads of stuff but all that i have said is from my own life n personal experience.
Bearing this in mind i would appreciate if you don't like some of what i have just said then you keep it to yerself as i am only answering a fellow BLers question , i'm not looking for judgement .
If anyone wants further info or has questions i will answer them over pms ok
Peace.
I only managed to stay clean for 3 months though! 
I find that once you start getting prescribed methadone its never that easy to get off! Best of luck, you sound like your doing really well!!! 
