Abuse the ones who love you
Hate the ones who won’t
Nurse the thing
That’s killing you
The thing you
Want to kill-Coming Down, an excerpt from my Tiny Book
Content warning: frank discussion of addiction. Go gently, and if you’re fresh in recovery you can follow the support links at the end, or reach out to me.
I’ve been writing this week about the U.S. Opiate Crisis that is continuing to rage throughout the U.S. My writing has been inspired by and based around the book Dopesick, by Beth Macy, and the limited tv series by the same name, based on Macy’s book. As I write this the first media reports of fentanyl lacing of drugs in New Zealand have recently been released, and New Zealand’s own laws around the marketing of drugs directly to consumers remain some of the most relaxed in the world - second only to the U.S.
If you haven’t already, I suggest going back and reading part one and part two to this series. Tonight’s is the last of three. While part one contextualised the history of opiates in the global west, part two delved deeper into my own reflections about substance use disorders, and the humanity that we all carry, even through addiction. Part three will talk about what comes next - how we make our way out of the darkness and find lives worth living again. Recovery is complex, there’s no one size fits all approach, but it too is an act of deep human connection.
As I discussed in previous posts, part two and three will remain paywalled, so that I can speak more intimately about this issue close to my heart.
