“Heroin saved my life.” Not something I ever thought I would hear, let alone, believe.
One of the youth in the art group said this to me last week. He was talking about trauma he experienced as a child and how it led him to severe depression. Things got so bad that he was considering taking his own life. That was when he got into drugs. The drugs gave him an escape, or at least temporary relief. Using drugs also gave him something to do, even a sense of purpose. For the past several years, heroin has distracted him from the suicidal thoughts that plague his mind. So in a way, I understand what he means about heroin saving his life.
But this thing that he thought saved his life then, is now killing him, now, and he knows it.
Now he is desperately seeking a place to go for rehab.
Sometimes we see addicts on the street, and shake our heads thinking “How can they do this to themselves?” But how do you give something up that has been keeping you alive?
– Moira