What do you make of this? I knew this guy for quite a while but we never met up alone?

Who knows maybe you did or maybe you didn't. And about his drug problem, get him hooked on a hobby he will enjoy for a long time that requires some form of cash so he wont spend it on drugs. You may think that you scared him away, but you probably didn't. He is probably busy or you just said something and he got the wrong message. Hope all goes well