Addiction
Cockroaches scampered up the bed and scurried across my Greenwich Village apartment floor. A tarantula writhed atop my dresser. I knew I was hallucinating. The empty liter of Bacardi rum glared at me next to barren packets of cocaine. I had hit bottom in my addiction.
Austin Eubanks survived the Columbine shooting but almost lost everything after his addiction took him to the brink. “I could literally get whatever I wanted. Telling them I’d been shot at Columbine and lost my best friend was like [getting] an open prescription book from any doctor.”
I have had meltdowns because of too much noise, or too many people talking at the same time. I don’t like parties, crowds, or the demands of the holidays. I don’t like Christmas or New Year’s or any other holiday – except for maybe Halloween.
When I quit drugs and drinking, I found out I had chronic persistent hepatitis C. I’d contracted it in 1978 when I was 17. As the years went by, my chances increased for developing cirrhosis, liver cancer, or liver failure. I might even need a liver transplant. I’d heard about interferon and its brutal side effects, including suicidal depression. I had HCV (hepatitis C virus) because I’d been so depressed as a teen, I shot drugs and shared needles in hopes I’d croak.
There is nothing more diabolical than the voice of addiction hijacking thoughts, rationalizing atrocious behavior.
Enclave Reading series on Saturday night was standing room only. Held at Cumming Club in Manhattan’s East Village, the joint was chockablock with hot bodies and talent. The four authors: Jeremiah Moss, Vanishing New York, Lara B. Sharp, Barb Morrison and Christopher Stoddard. Host and co curator Jason Napoli Brooks.
Tribeca Film Festival’s feature narrative, One Percent More Humid, premiered last night in Chelsea at the SVA Theater. The haunting coming-of-age story centers on two childhood friends on a break from college who reunite in their New England hometown. It’s a sweltering, sticky summer, hence the title. Iris (Juno Temple) and Catherine (Julia Garner) find relief in the cooling waters of the local lake.
Drug addiction is a physical and mental condition. Substance abuse nurses require general medical training and specialized training in handling drug addiction. You must be a registered nurse to work as a substance abuse nurse, which means graduating from a nursing program.
Ex-NYPD cop Ken Eurell sold cocaine and was memorialized in the documentary ‘The Seven Five’ wrote memoir ‘Betrayal in Blue: The Shocking Memoir of the Scandal that Rocked the NYPD.’
‘How to Murder Your Life’ by Cat Marnell is what every addict memoir should be: adventure-packed, shocking, darkly humorous, and gut-wrenching—the only thing missing is sobriety. You’re likely to read it in one fast sitting. It’s a fascinating, yet disturbing, tale about Adderall addiction.