Family of Heroin
- akennedyruns11
- Nov 30, 2018
- 3 min read
This is also heroin. Sam surrounded by some of the people who love him most.
I am thrilled that my post yesterday regarding the Denver City Council’s decision to allow a “safe injection site” pilot program in Denver was re-posted more than 50 times so far. Let’s keep it going. The conversation needs to happen.
Many people agreed with my post, others did not. That is fantastic because we are TALKING about it from different sides, that is a start. I am seeing outsiders starting to get pulled into the conversation. I welcome you and your thoughts with open arms. I also see people who have not had any connection to heroin commenting, you belong here too because like it or not, heroin will become closer to your world too. You might like to know what you may dealing with in the future.
When Sam eventually gets out of jail/prison/ or where ever he ends up, chances of him ending up back on the streets shooting heroin are higher than not. Heroin is a powerful force that never goes away. He is 19 years old and to date, he does not have his high school diploma. He has very little job experience. He is also well aware that while his life has largely stopped while he is incarcerated, all of us out here continue our day to day lives.
Can you even imagine the kind of stress he will be under as a completely unprepared member of society? Sure, he can come out swinging and choose to take the world back by the balls, or, he could do what he has always done, slip back to his drug induced comatose lifestyle. I am not trying to indicate Sam should not be where he is, obviously, since I turned him in myself. However, the idea that he might have a warm, welcome, “safe” environment waiting for him to reengage his old life style when he steps back Into society makes me sick to my stomach. It would be so much more comfortable for him to regress. If it’s easy, warm, accepted, convenient, and a place to get drugs near by, I fear that the call to use may overwhelm him.
It seems as though people who have actually dealt with an addict are more against this program and others who have seen it less intimately are more for it. It may just be my perception. I nailed my basic thought regarding this in a reply to a comment I received:
In a nutshell: If I believed that it was the responsibility of the world to keep my addict safe, I would have kept him at home and monitored his use with my Narcan handy and kept him safe myself. This is an unrealistic way to support these addicts. I refuse to do it and I refuse to support the idea that this is the way to help. It is like a hand down to me. Keep em “safe” shooting up here. Why would they ever stop? And, keep in mind, the dealers hang where the addicts hang.
As always, I fight for my son. The people I have dealt with for Sam along the way don’t always like me because I am can be a real bitch but they always know where I stand. I will not give up.
This picture was last Christmas. We look so normal. I treasure this picture and I hope we have another opportunity to take one just like it. Sam and Gene may or may not cross paths again.
Please keep talking. Do you want these sites? If so, are you willing to accept them In your neighborhood? Do you plan to help fund them?
In closing, I do not argue against these sites with the idea that my son is done using. I am not naive. When my son is free, he may go back out and overdose and die. It happens all the time. I still do not agree to giving him a happy place to shoot up. Amen.
Where there is life, there is hope. #nomoreshame
Comments