Junkie Mike has turned clean for a year now, and has been working for a drug rehab centre. Not too long ago they had an heroin addict who “graduated” and left the centre, but on the next day died of overdose.
If you have watched Andy Lau’s recent film Protégé (I have only watched part of it. These days I couldn’t sit in front of the telly for over half an hour. Let’s go outside to ride a bike okay?) you would be aware that the popularity of heroin has declined over the years. The local heroin market has just shrinked down that tiny little bit.
Drug addicts do not in general die of OD because they are greedy. They get their stuff from outlaws, who often when making the final products put in all sorts of crap to increase the weight for higher profit. These final products are therefore not as potent, and the consumers would just take a higher dose to get high. Now on the rare occasion that they get hold of the quality stuff and take in the usual quantity they get a nasty surprise.
I think this is a strong argument against drug prohibition. Legalization of drugs in a somewhat controlled manner (e.g. GP prescription) would make drugs cheaper and drug consumption safer, in turn saving lives. You could argue that a faceless junkie’s life may not be worth saving, but if this junkie is someone you know you probably would not say the same thing.
Mike told me that the most popular recreation drug in Hong Kong these days is probably Ketamine. Party organizers (also drug pushers) often put out their own “special blend” containing a mix of different recreational drugs and who-knows-what, which makes the stuff far more dangerous.
1 response so far ↓
1 James // Oct 20, 2007 at 9:24 am
U must have missed the ending of the movie then? When it was easily available, even a good cop with hatred on “recreational drugs and the traffickers” became an addict.
The danger is in the impurities. One would be considered lucky to get starch in impure cocaine but not if detergent was used instead of starch. (Miami Vice – the TV series – which was way way better made than the stupid movie)
As the movie Protégé suggested, one doesn’t just get pure form of drugs without knowing it. Who would sell one pure form for the same price as the impure form? The gal died from OD because she was forced to take more than she usually did, not willingly and purchased without knowingly. But then again, that’s just the movies.
In HK, one can buy any prescription drugs without a prescription. You might as well sell them in newspaper stands.
IMO, cigarettes and alcohol are addictive substances, and so is Coka Cola for that matter. With boneheads like our asist. comm. of brdcast, I’d say lock ‘em up, give them the stairway to their fked heaven and let ‘em OD.