“It just, it took them.”
heroin
Posted inNonfiction
Postcard from the (Literal) Edge
In an excerpt from her recovery memoir, Erin Khar recalls the depths of her self-destruction as a heroin addict.
Posted inHighlight, Nonfiction, Quote Posts, Quotes
‘Writers tell’: The Devastating Contrasts in Life, Death, and West Virginia
“Twelve years later, I birthed my son on my sister’s death day.”
Posted inEditor's Pick
Bootlegging Jane’s Addiction
In this personal essay, Aaron Gilbreath considers the impact a live Jane’s Addiction recording has had on him, and the effect heroin had on the band’s — and his own — creativity.
Posted inNonfiction
180 Overdoses, 18 Deaths, One Week
The Cincinnati Enquirer’s harrowing chronicle of an ordinary week at the height of the heroin epidemic.
Posted inEditor's Pick
Why Russia’s Heroin Addicts Are Going Through Hell
Russia’s aversion to harm reduction as a strategy to combat drug addiction has led to an HIV epidemic. In Yekaterinburg — the fourth largest city in Russia with a population of 1.5 million people — one in 50 are HIV positive. In Russia, addiction is considered a “moral sickness” and methadone is illegal — “a […]
Posted inNonfiction, Quotes
Why Is There a Patient Cap on Medication Used to Treat Heroin Addicts?
At Guernica, Lucas Mann (who lost his brother to heroin addiction) writes on why abstinence and methadone don’t work and how doctors are failing in their fight against arbitrary, DEA-enforced patient caps on buprenorphine — a promising treatment for heroin addiction. Curran began prescribing in 2002. He was stunned by the results, and so were […]
Posted inUncategorized
How a Local Police Chief Took on the Drug War
After 25 years of fighting a losing war on drugs and with a heroin epidemic raging in his home state of Massachusetts, Gloucester Police Chief Leonard Campanello decided to take matters into his own hands. He opened his police station’s doors to any addict seeking help, promising to get them into treatment. Writing for Boston Magazine, Chris Sweeney […]
Posted inNonfiction, Quotes
‘Either Addicted, or in Prison Because of Their Addiction’
Heroin use and related overdoses have been increasing in nearly every demographic group in the U.S., a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report posted earlier this month shows. In obituaries, “a growing number of families are dropping the euphemisms,” instead describing the painful realities of addiction. David Amsden’s April 2014 Rolling Stone story, “The […]
Posted inNonfiction, Reading List
Drug Life: A Reading List
1. “Finding Molly: Drugs, Dancing and Death.” (Shane Morris, Bro Jackson, September 2013) Every batch of Molly is different. And that’s what makes the pills or powder you’re buying at your local music festival so dangerous. Shane Morris offers a first-person account of his time in both the EDM and Molly industries. 2. “Is Marijuana Withdrawal […]