THE SLAVE
In
the back-streets and
public conveniences, in
amongst bushes and
bus shelters, in
abandoned buildings,
slums and plush
apartments
she’d give head and
hand-jobs for the price
of a bag of heroin,
Joanna would sell her
clothes, her self-respect,
her dear mother’s
soul, her father’s
eyes, her sister’s heart
for a bag of heroin,
she’d blind the sun,
confiscate the moon
and rip the blood
from your veins
for a bag of heroin
and she did
until a fucked-up
batch of heroin
beat her down
forever.
public conveniences, in
amongst bushes and
bus shelters, in
abandoned buildings,
slums and plush
apartments
she’d give head and
hand-jobs for the price
of a bag of heroin,
Joanna would sell her
clothes, her self-respect,
her dear mother’s
soul, her father’s
eyes, her sister’s heart
for a bag of heroin,
she’d blind the sun,
confiscate the moon
and rip the blood
from your veins
for a bag of heroin
and she did
until a fucked-up
batch of heroin
beat her down
forever.
Addiction -- Grzegorz Kmin
Opium poppies have been cultivated for at least 3,600 years, but it was not understood until the 19th century that most of their effects were caused by 2 alkaloids, codeine and morphine. In 1874, seeking a non-addictive alternative to morphine by combining it with various acids, C. R. Alder Wright boiled anhydrous morphine alkaloid with acetic anhydride and produced a more potent, acetylated form. In 1888, in search of a new way of with the objective of producing codeine, which is less potent and less addictive than morphine, Felix Hoffmann, under the direction of Heinrich Dreser (the same team that would synthesize aspirin in 1897) continued to research diamorphine. The result was an acetylated form of morphine that was twice as potent as morphine. Bayer AG branded it Heroin (based on the German "heroisch," -- heroic or strong) and marketed it as a non-addictive cough suppressant from 1898 to 1910. Bayer ceased its production in 1913, and many countries began restricting its use. However, heroin continued to move from nations where it was still legal into those where it was banned. By the mid-1920s labs in China (mostly in Shanghai and Tianjin) had developed a widespread illegal trade in the substance. Corsican gang leaders Paul Carbone and François Spirito began production in Marseilles, France, in 1937, and this "French connection" became the primary source of heroin in Europe and North America.
ReplyDelete. For years, the Corsican underworld had been involved in the manufacturing and trafficking of heroin, primarily to the United States.[1] It was this heroin network that eventually became known as "the French Connection".
Strong poem
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