Be My Enabler, Help Me Get High

[Nikki Dolson]

I'm stuck so I plead to the higher writing powers.

I have written a character with a heroin addiction but I dont have any idea where to begin to research the process of injecting heroin. I've found articles and interviews on the dead, on crimes committed by users, statistics etc. but what I want is...well I guess I want "Heroin for Dummies" 2003 ed.

Suggestions?

[Rob Siders]

Check your local area for harm reduction centers... facilities set up to help users get access to clean supplies. I suggest you call first to set up a visit. Tell them what you're writing and they might be willing to help... maybe you could offer to volunteer a couple times a month in exchange. I've watched videos of users that practically gave a clinic on how to get high and they've informed my writing considerably. If the harm prevention center is unwilling to help, ask them if they can point you in another direction.

After that, call your local police department's Community Information Officer. A local hospital might have someone who can help, too.

But searching "how to shoot heroin" on Google got me this:

http://www.lectlaw.com/files/drg23.htm

It's step-by-step and fairly accurate.

[Steve Mosby]

You could google "how to inject heroin". I just did that and found lots of "informative" sites. Have a look here:

http://www.neonjoint.com/drug_recipes/chapter9.html

There's a detailed description of the process involved. Whether it's entirely accurate is probably not quite as important as whether it seems convincing enough for the reader.

[Nikki Dolson]

Thanks so much Rob and Steve for the links and the suggestions.

[Rob Siders]

No sweat. Happy to help. Steve's link is good, too.

[Steve Mosby]

No worries. I cross-posted with Rob, and I think those two links are actually more-or-less the same text... :-)

[David Terrenoire]

Read Naked Lunch, Man With A Golden Arm or other books I'm sure our community can recommend..

[David Terrenoire]

Oh, these suggestions are much better than mine.

[Rob Siders]

That's a great site, William! Lots of great info. Thanks for passing it along.

[Stephen Blackmoore]

Erowid's fantastic. I've always liked that they give you the pharmacology as well as experiences reported by users.

[norby]

HBO Documentaries can be pretty informative too-I'm always amazed by how stark and real they are-no softening of the edges there.

[Tribe]

Aside from the William S. Burroughs books mentioned (and one has to include Junkie amongst those), heroin is relatively cheap these days. You won't get hooked just trying it once. Seriously. Just one hit.

[Tribe]

In any event, nobody does heroin anymore...krank is the new heroin.