It's Been Awhile

Articles

It's Been Awhile

By L.J. Chapman
Mar. 29, 2006

It's been awhile since I have written an article for useless-knowledge, mostly because my life has become so hectic that I just haven't had the time. But there is a small part of my reasoning that is because I haven't had anything to write about. Now I do.

I've never had a problem writing about my relationships online. In fact, I have been known to let some of the craziest of details get into an article, or a blog, or an online journal entry. I am going to write about my relationship again, only this one actually has some significance to the world.

I have a boyfriend named Caleb. Actually, he could, at this point be considered my fiance' since we have set a roundabout wedding date for June 2008. Caleb is a good guy. I met him at my old job. He worked as a customer service rep, I worked in human resources. He plays guitar beautifully, draws amazing pictures. He's smart, funny, and great to have a conversation with. He's excellent with my son. Caleb is everything I've looked for in another human being, except... well, Caleb is a heroin addict.

As I write this, Caleb is in a detox program in the city, waiting to get into an RP (residential program), from there he will go to a halfway house and only after he completes all of this will he be able to come home. See, as much as I love him, I love my son more, and having an active junkie live in my home was not acceptable, so I asked him to leave about 3 weeks ago. He hasn't been home since.

Before I met him, I knew nothing about heroin or junkies (active heroin addicts). I only knew that heroin was bad, and there were a couple of movies about it, like Train Spotting or the Basketball Diaries. I didn't know exactly what nodding out was, or that when someone is high they will subconciously scratch their face. They also need water, lots and lots of water, like a plant.

When he comes home, probably six months from now, he will be a heroin addict. He'll be a heroin addict for the rest of his life. But he doesn't have to be a junkie. Surprisingly, most of my family and friends have accepted him, more so since he decided to go into this program.

Don't get me wrong, in no way am I saying that being a junkie is okay. I don't like them. I don't like Caleb when he's high, and I certainly don't want to be around anyone else when they're high. I've never seen a drug destroy a human being like this drug does. I think it's the devil in powder, or needle, form.

But I also don't think that the anti-drug people are not putting enough emphasis on this drug in particular. A few of us were sitting around, discussing the drug commercials, and to our recollection, there was only one anti-heroin commercial that we could think of. ONE! Out of the hundreds of anti-pot. One. And in fact, I don't really recall seeing a crack/cocaine one either. I won't break into my whole pro-marijuana talk at this point, but I think there are bigger drugs that need to be concentrated on.

Heroin will destroy a person and all the people around that person. I give credit to Caleb's parents for being able to be so strong through this whole ordeal. Five years. That's a long time to wonder if you're going to bury your son.

And to close, a quote from Neil Young's "The Needle and The Damage Done"

"I've seen the needle and the damage done, a little part of it in everyone, but every junkie's just a setting sun."

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Email L.J. Chapman: scarlett_sugar80@yahoo.com

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