Sunday 24 July 2011

Heroin Chic


I've taken all manner of drugs in my long career as a self-indulgent hedonist, but have never even smoked heroin, let alone injected it.

A few years ago, I reckon I was getting through about 3 grams of cocaine a week, then I thought enough was enough - not to mention the amount of money I was spending on it. No matter how broke you are, there always seems to be a way of getting the stuff, if you really want it.

As soon as I became bored with the white stuff, the quality of it went right downhill anyway, so my timing was perfect. All these new-fangled amphetamines began to arrive by the kilo from back-street, Chinese laboratories, and the European dealers began using them to cut the coke into even weaker proportions, making more money as a result. Prior to that, they would cut the stuff with a harmless and inert powder bought from Holland, so the hit would just be weaker. Now - because of the cheap and powerful substitutes, all the coke-heads spend all night grinding their teeth and talking even more bollocks than they used to in the old days.

I once (and once only!) took about 3/4ths of a gram of cheap, base speed by 'accident', over a period of about 2 hours. I didn't sleep for 24 hours, didn't leave the house for 3 days and didn't smile again for a week. Like the old mother was supposed to have said - "That is no way to have fun".

Bath - like every other town these days - has it's fair share of junkies roaming the streets, and every now and then, one of them manages to pull themselves out of the nose-dive, and start to live a slightly more normal life. Most of them eventually just disappear forever, though.

I don't think that I have ever had what they now call an 'addictive personality' when it comes to Class A drugs, but I have obviously got a tendency to habitual behaviour, otherwise I wouldn't still be smoking tobacco. I am - I have decided after careful consideration over the years - not an alcoholic, though I have known many alcoholics over those years of comparative consideration, and most of them drank a lot less than I did.

It's all down to what is happening in your life, and how you handle what is happening - to a certain extent. Also - and also most unfairly - some people have a higher physical resistance to addiction than others. Did you know that (because of varying levels of a certain enzyme) alcohol has SEVEN times the detrimental effect on the organs of women than it does for men? It's not fair, but I am afraid it is true. I have seen 23 year-old girls destroy themselves over a period of one year, simply by drinking about 5 pints of cider a night - about the same as most 70 year old men have been drinking all their lives, who are still walking around - red-faced but reasonably fit.

'Moderation in all things' seems to apply to all things except heroin - as poor Amy Winehouse and her parents have just been forced to publicly acknowledge. At least Amy's death may have put a stop to the stupid use of the invented fashion phrase, 'heroin chic' at last. There is nothing chic about heroin. The whole thing was just a bad joke on the cat-walk which was taken seriously by a handful of serious fashion-victims.

21 comments:

  1. Heroin Chic; the perfect oxymoron.

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  2. I always thought that an oxymoron was a stupid welder.

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  3. Just back home from a day in Toronto. Astonishing how this 'look', more genuine than contrived, still exists. I didn't notice it so much when I lived there, but it seemed the city still has far too many of these shattered creatures.
    The world has lost another talent too early.

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  4. Goodbye Amy Winehouse ...
    Any chemical scene like that always seems to end nasty. I've deleted and rewritten this comment about five times now. Nice post Tom. Don't know what else to say!

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  5. Everyone was saying what a waste of talent about 3 years ago - I don't think there IS anything left to say.

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  6. I follow a blog of a man who was born a heroin addict. As much as he has tried to stop (rehabs included), it is impossible. He speaks freely about it and feels hopeless. His addiction will never allow him the opportunities that you or I have with our addiction to nicotine.

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  7. As I said once before Tom - I have led a very sheltered life!

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  8. And may you continue to do so, Weaver.

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  9. Being BORN a heroin addict is doubly unfair, Grouch. All the (female) junkies I have seen clean themselves up in Bath have done so because they became pregnant. That is what I call selfless, and good luck to them and their kids.

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  10. Tom. I have now had to re-evaluate everything I pictured you being i.e. a generic 'grumpy old man' with a wardrobe of holey knitted jumpers and stained corduroy trousers who spends his days muttering and grumbling at passers by...

    Like seeing Radio 4 presenters in the flesh, it's never going to be the same...

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  11. honest and enlightening thomas

    your best post to date

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  12. Tom, well at least you had the good sense to realise when enough was enough. Not a lot of people do. Loved Chris' comment. xx

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  13. You're absolutely right about me being a "generic 'grumpy old man' with a wardrobe of holey knitted jumpers and stained corduroy trousers who spends his days muttering and grumbling at passers by...", Chris. I've just added a little chiaroscuro to your already astute assessment for a more accurate portrait.

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  14. Of course you can only get that skinny model look if you're addicted to something (other than food. It seems amazing that it's acceptable to down all kinds of pills, wreck your lungs, or stuff crap up your nose, as long as you're thin - but if you eat too much you're a loser.

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  15. to Morning AJ....amen. And to Tom, wonderful post. Thank you for sharing a part of yourself that you didn't have to share.

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  16. In my Syd B days, someone in the house managed to get hold of some Opium (very rare in those days, unless you were in the Floyd). It was quite wonderful, but like you I have no 'addictive personality' (other than for vino) so it was a once only experience.

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  17. I didn't mind sharing it, Kelly, just don't ask me to share the drugs, that's all - anything worth getting is £100 a gram these days.

    I quite like opium, Cro, but decided that I would put off any serious smoking of it until I had some sort of terminal disease that gave me around 3 months of pain before unavoidable death, so - once again - watch this space. Did you hang around with the crazy diamond, then?

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  18. I am still waiting for my bohemian phase

    ......

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  19. That prematurely finished when Freddie Mercury died, John.

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  20. Busy doing nothing, John. Thank you for enquiring after my well-being. (H.I.'s Summer School and friends over from the USA... )

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