The Modern Addict

I am the modern addict. I am not the dirty "junkie" you perceive me to be. I am the all-star athlete, a good husband and a thoughtful son. I am the nice neighbor in a 3100 square feet beautiful, suburban home with multiple fast cars.

I am the modern addict. I am not a "loser" with no job. I am not a "druggie" with no future. I am the nice looking young man with muscles who holds the door open for the older couple at the grocery store. I am the life of the party and the "go to guy" when someone else is hurting.

I am the modern addict. I don't live on the streets and you won't find me with a needle sticking out of my arm passed out in the worst parts of town. I am employed, I am in pain, I am hurting. Heroin simply makes me feel better.

I am the modern addict. On the outside, it appears that I have my life together. I have the perfect wife and I always look happy around others. But deep on the inside where nobody sees me or seems to care, I hide my pain.

I am the modern addict. I sit in my office snorting heroin when nobody sees me. It helps to take away the pain and suffering I feel on the inside. I am a man floundering, with no purpose. I am not happy and I'm not content.

I am the modern addict who feels alone and has no friends. Heroin has become the one I turn to, the one that I need to get by in a world full of anguish and pain.

I am the modern addict who used to love and care about others. Now all I care about is using drugs and escaping a reality I've learned to hate and despise - almost as much as I learned to hate myself.

I am the modern addict who used to socialize and get out. Now I just stay in my house and get high. Nobody cares....except heroin.

I am the modern addict you didn't know about - the one you overlooked because you were too busy with your own lives.

I am the modern addict who will hide my heroin addiction until the day I die.

I am the modern addict whose funeral you'll attend because I was taken suddenly and nobody knows why.

I am the modern addict who will surprise the world because nobody understood why a man like me would use heroin and die.

How could a man who was not a "junkie", who was not a "druggie" nor a "dope fiend" become an addict?

Because I am the modern addict. I live in the modern world and possess the modern image of today's heroin addict. It is not prejudice. It does not discriminate. But heroin has fooled the world into stigmatizing and categorizing addicts so that more lives than ever will be taken year after year.

Turn, stop and see. The modern addict is a part of your family and lives in your city. Stop stignatizing addicts and don't ignore reality.

If you open your eyes, you can make a difference and you might just save a life.

Written and Published By William Charles - Publisher of Kill The Herion Epidemic Nationwide, Heroin News and the National Alliance of Addiction Treatment Centers (NAATC)