Thank
you for letting me back in
You
thought you got rid of me in the 70s.
In the
90s, I was barely a blip on the radar screen, overshadowed by all the new
party drugs. I was weaker back then, too, so pure and powerful now. Every new
formula more tempting and deadlier than before.
I
thrive in chaotic, fast-paced worlds where people don’t take the time to talk
to each other. I can be delivered to your door like pizza and you can shoot me,
smoke me or snort me. I like to be versatile!
I’m a
killer. But I like to play with my prey first. I wrap
my talons around them, leak into their brains, make them feel good at first and
never let go.
I tease them,
tempt them and just when they think they are free of me, talk them into one
more party. At some point, they become pathetic, needy and no longer any
fun at all and I get rid of them. Vamoose! Or talk them into getting rid of
themselves.
Those
little white prescription pills you invented were mere bread crumbs right back
to me. Greed and opportunity revived me.
I’ve
made the lowest scum bags rich as hell. I’ve made mothers sell their children
into human trafficking for just one more party. I’ve invaded the bodies of
newborns, left children orphaned, wiped out entire families and created trauma
so devastating, it will affect you for generations to come.
You
thought you could punish your way out of this with a ‘war on drugs.’ And even
after decades of failure, you stupid mother f—kers kept at it-- like slamming
your head against the same wall over and over was going to produce a new
result.
I
continued to flourish. Thanks to shame and silence. Thanks for letting me, I
couldn’t have done it without you.
Sincerely,
Heroin, King of the World
By
Anne Moss Rogers, a writer and
public speaker on the subjects of addiction, mental illness and suicide
prevention. She owns a blog called Emotionally
Naked where she
features guest posts as well as her own story on taboo subjects. In June 2015, Anne
Moss lost her youngest son Charles, 20, to suicide when he was experiencing
withdrawal from heroin.
