Dopesick hooking

May 22, 2016 12:49 PM

This is what it's like to have sex for money when you're sick from heroin withdrawal [Content warning: graphic depictions of sex acts, drug use, and other topics which may be uncomfortable to some readers]
posted by item (8 comments total)

"Luckily, despite the current heroin and prescription opioid epidemic, our bourgeois clientele often has no idea what dopesickness looks like."

I read that in my Burroughs voice.

Tough read. The detox in jail fear even when trying to kick is THE razor cog in the "Vicious cycle"; as if "cycle" can easily scientificize the situation.
posted by clavdivs at 1:06 PM on May 22, 2016 [4 favorites]

Where I live in Canada if you are in prison it's easy to get methadone. They put you on the program and supply it faithfully. The problem comes when you get out. There is usually three or more days between release and when you can get a social worker to get you into the program where the Meth is covered by social assistance. Until then you are on your own trying to come up with the funds and avoid withdrawal. Luckily the local AIDS group, and several of the churches step up as much as they can to cover it but neither group is made of money and they can only do it when they have the cash. Meth costs $10 per day on the program if it's not covered by Social Assistance. There's a huge difference in the recidivism rate between people who find someone to carry them until the Social Assistance paperwork is done and those who don't. Some of the churches have an account with the pharmacies, so they can pay for the Meth at the end of the month, and more than once the actual pharmacy clerk has been the one covering it. But those who don't have a friend or family, or if the church resources are tapped out will find themselves tricking, or ripping off, or trying to tough it out, or unfortunately, most likely of all, get credit from a dealer who gets them hooked back on the dope.
posted by Jane the Brown at 1:55 PM on May 22, 2016 [3 favorites]

It is horrific that we continue to treat substance abuse as a moral and legal issue rather than a health issue, and stories like this are the inevitable result of this ignorant, cruel approach. As bad as the primary symptoms and effects of drug addiction are, the social and cultural context that forces addicts, who by the very nature of the disease will pay essentially any cost to relieve the agony of withdrawal, to subject themselves to this level of pain and humiliation needlessly inflicts extraordinary suffering of people who are already struggling.

We need to (continue to) reform healthcare to guarantee access to methadone and other effective treatments for opiate addiction, and decriminalize "recreational" drug use and sex work. This is so obviously the right answer to this problem, but the harmful messages of the Reagan-initiated "war on drugs" still blind people with false moralizing about drug use and drug users.
posted by biogeo at 3:48 PM on May 22, 2016 [10 favorites]

On that point, another article from The Influence provides 10 proposals that would address the opioid crisis, which are all very sane and, in a perfect world, would be totally uncontroversial.
posted by biogeo at 3:56 PM on May 22, 2016 [1 favorite]

“Most white upper-class clients were too detached from the realities of addiction,” echoes Fae. “[They] frequently accepted such diversions as, ‘Oh, I have the flu, but I’ve been on antibiotics for 48 hours, so I’m no longer at risk to infect you.’”

Ennnnghhh.
posted by Justinian at 4:56 PM on May 22, 2016

I feel that some (many) people want addicts to suffer in their withdraws, and purposefully avoid things that could ear the withal process because it is their punishment.

Withdrawl is a terrible terrible process for herion, and alcohol.

Addicts are humans who are sick and need treatment, resources, and compassion. The US provides none of that.
posted by AlexiaSky at 5:29 PM on May 22, 2016 [6 favorites]

Man. This sort of thing is lightyears away from my personal experience, and yet the most I can handle is to read the text of the FPP. Can't even read the comments here, not going to even think about clicking the link to TFA. The horror of it is too much for me to deal with even on that level. To actually live something like this…I don't know what it would do to me, what it would do to a person to have that life. It's a horror beyond my comprehension, a horror that it would be dangerous to my mental health even to try to comprehend.

My heart grieves. I feel sick and angry, just knowing this is a part of the world that I live in, a part of the society that I participate in. I wish all kinds of strength and love to the people who are living through this, and to those who are out there trying to help. They are doing things that I could never do, confronting problems that I lack the strength to confront in any but the most abstracted, filtered, rarefied way. I wanted to put my voice here simply because I felt I had to do something, that I couldn't let this pass by without comment, but this is all I have to give.

I am aware that it is pitifully small. I just wanted to say, to those who are fighting this kind of thing more directly—whether they're struggling with addiction, navigating the perils and pitfalls of sex work, working with drug addicts, fighting for more rights and protections for sex workers, disseminating information about what is happening on the margins of our society, or even just educating themselves and talking about this stuff with their social circle in a way that fosters understanding and empathy—there are many of us out here who support you, and wish you well, but who lack the fortitude for this fight. You're not alone, we're on your side, we just can't deal with this kind of traumatic shit without being traumatized ourselves. At least, I can't. I wish I could.
posted by Anticipation Of A New Lover's Arrival, The at 5:33 PM on May 22, 2016 [2 favorites]

Handy to have r/eyebleach open while reading this article.
posted by um at 8:35 PM on May 22, 2016