ABSTRACT
A pervasive myth influences our thoughts about heroin, which is all the more gloomy for not being fully articulated. It owes something to the Prodigal Son but without the homecoming, or to Red Riding Hood without the woodcutter’s axe. Or perhaps to ‘La Belle Dame sans Merci’.3 The story line goes something like this: Peddlers come looking for you, when you are young and innocent or down on your luck. They press goodies upon you. Once you’ve tried them, you’re a customer for life. Unable to escape the addiction, you need everincreasing amounts to keep yourself straight. You come running to their lair. Your behaviour becomes degraded. You start injecting, and quickly contaminate yourself with infections. You lose all sense of morality. You’d ‘steal opium suppositories from your grandma’s ass’4
or anything else to raise cash for a fix. You lose interest in friends and family – your only thought is ‘chasing the bag’.
