That's bullshit (about being safe every where unless doing shady business) as an example I was almost abducted while waiting for my bus in the bus terminal.
I know of people missing who's only doing was driving thru a highway to go somewhere else.
This idea that only Bad People doing Bad Things™ are in risk here is dumb.
Good for you, nothing to do with my point that not only people getting drugs get in incidents, as proved by the article.
I'm pretty sure someone could come and tell you "I've lived in LA/Washington and never got robbed", would that make your experience getting robbed in LA or statistics about Mexico City being safer than DC untrue? no.
Also, drug buyers are customers. It would seem crazy for a dealer to endanger customers on a regular basis. So, buying drugs in a shady part of town should be (relatively) safer than most activities?
I don't know about being relatively safer, if you have a higher income than average you definitely can become a target because, via their other business (extortion, kidnapping and asking for rescue) they can also obtain profit, so being successful can be risky.
Now, are dealers purposively endangering their clients? I don't think so, but risks do come with getting drugs (e.g the police/military comes by, a rival cartel comes by, etc). Also, most of their income comes from the drugs they sell in the states so I don't think losing customers here is such a (monetary) loss to them.
You (wrongly) assume drug dealers and their surrounding cast are balanced and rational individuals. There's a huge spread, but when you interact with criminals living on the edge of society you should not expect to be safe.
I know of people missing who's only doing was driving thru a highway to go somewhere else. This idea that only Bad People doing Bad Things™ are in risk here is dumb.