Dear Heroin,

Everyone has a story

When heroin addiction first hit my family I didn't know what to do. I didn't know how to react. I didn't know who to blame, who to be angry with or who to ask why. What I knew was that the emotions I experienced impacted me every hour of every day of my life.

 

I have always been fond of reading. Great story telling through the written word is one of the greatest gifts the human race has ever been given. Maybe it is not so coincidental then, that I often found it easier to express my true feelings by writing. I have kept a journal since well before adulthood and continue to do so into my 30s. Writing unabashedly about my experiences and emotions led to periods of introspection and allowed for much needed self assessments. The written word is tangible. I could often talk myself out of things in my own head but once it was there, on paper, in permanent ink, I could no longer hide from it.  So it is no surprise that at some point I decided I needed to write about the way heroin addiction had impacted me and my family. These writings started as most journal entries. However, the more research I did and exploration of myself I found that there is one striking realization that only those that have seen the destruction of this terrible disease can relate to-- It wasn't the addict that I was mad at, it was the drug.

 

So one day my journal entry turned into something else. It wasn't an invoice of my feelings or intended action steps. It was a letter I wrote addressed and directed at the drug. I titled this entry "Dear Heroin". I felt liberated afterward. It was the first stepping stone in realizing that all of this was the drug's fault, not the individuals.

 

Soon afterward I did some google-ing to see if anyone else had done this. I found two things: 1. that indeed some had and 2. not as many as I would have thought. During that time I found the story of a young girl from Wales who had wrote a letter to heroin shortly before she succumbed to her affliction. Her parents had published it in a British paper to help inspire other young kids to stay off drugs. It was then that I first had the idea to start a forum where people can share their stories. That was several years ago. With the recent string of deaths  on the east coast and some high profile celebrity overdoses, I felt this was a sign that now was the time for me to work on this.

 

The purpose for this site is to allow people to share their feelings. Whether you are an addict or someone affected by the addiction of a loved one I encourage you to write a letter to heroin. You will see that you are not alone. You will see that others feel the same way. I will start by sharing my own. I am not a professional web developer. I am not an experienced non-profit executive. I am not a writer (and if you are you have probably identified numerious grammatical errors). I don't know what will become of this project. I'm just a working stiff who has seen the destruction of this disease and I just want to make a difference; because everyone and every  family has a story... and this is part of mine.