A Curse
It's a curse that affects those of my generation
The constant search for new sensations
New drinks, powders potions and pills
Feeling better and better until we fell ill
It's that old, old story of drugs and addiction
I thought it was probably 50% fiction
Peddled by the authorities to scare people straight
I thought I was clever enough to avoid my fate
But I'm not much smarter than any other smack head
Just enough to avoid jail and not to be dead
The consequences are there for the rest of my days
I have to stay in control of my actions, my ways
It's there all the time and it won't disappear
But I got off lightly, at least I'm still here
I can't say that much for too many of my friends
I've still got a chance to choose how my life ends.
The Ghost of a Heroin Addict -- Margaret Pepper
Even though the injectable form of heroin looks like a slimy, dark-colored semi-solid, injecting it into the veins is the primary consumption method. However, before the chemistry of liquefying heroin for intravenous use was understood, the drug had to be inhaled or sniffed. The Yiddish word for sniff is “schmeck,” which became “smack” in American English slang. As a way of gauging the strength of heroin before converting it into its final, more potent, form (or because inhaling heroin is somewhat safer than injecting it, since the lungs filter some adulterants such as talc that would otherwise pass directly into the bloodstream), some users try to inhale the still-runny substance before it congeals into a semi-solid mass. This is called "chasing," in much the way that drinkers "chase" a strong alcoholic beverage, like whiskey, with a weaker one like beer. The smack is heated on a conductive material such as aluminum foil, and the liquid is kept moving to keep it from overheating and burning up too quickly. The smoke is inhaled through a tube. The practice of chasing originated in Hong Kong, so the idea of pursuing an elusive and mythical goal, like trying to score an even better high that never comes, is "chasing the dragon."
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