> Is there really any difference between using unsafe in your own code, versus wrapping it inside some crate?

Yes, in the same way that there's a difference between using `std::Vec` (which uses `unsafe`), and writing an unsafe Vec class yourself.

Or even the difference between using Python (which wraps an unsafe CPython implementation), and doing everything in unsafe Python code.

The difference is that widely used code like CPython and `std::Vec` are much much better tested and audited than anything I would write myself, because so many people use them. This is a continuum so something like petgraph is going to be not as well tested as std::Vec but still way better tested than anything I've written.