Ask Layzie about Heroin Addiction/Doing Time In Prison

[Layzie]

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How would you reform the US drug laws?

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Decriminalize marijuana, and come up with a treatment oriented plan for dealing with drug users instead of one focused on incarceration. I'd go into more detail, but i'm about to go to bed. But that's the gist of what I think should be done.

[Tron]

Did you ever meet anyone who genuinely maintained their innocence? Did you believe him?

[tuq]

Thanks for sharing the info in this thread, Layzie. Sharing is caring.

Regarding the addiction aspect, you touched on it, but can you touch on it more? The subject/process of addiction is one of fascination to me (my favorite book, a fiction work called Infinite Jest, revolved around people being addicted to all sorts of things). What I mean is, one minute you're smoking weed in HS, and then a year or two later you're shooting heroin. If I have that timeline correct.

You seem like a smart guy. Now we all know Nancy Reagan is kind of a jackass, but you had to know that heroin was seriously -EV well before you got into it. (An episode of Intervention should clear this up for the uninitiated.) Were you just too far down the path of destruction to admit this to yourself? How many of your friends used?

I don't think those questions have been answered, I read the thread earlier today though. In any event, best of luck to you and make sure you're hanging with the right people. My brother was dealing coke and got popped and the only way he could see getting it together was to leave the state and start over. That was 1987 and he's only been back here once since.

[Layzie]

"What I mean is, one minute you're smoking weed in HS, and then a year or two later you're shooting heroin. If I have that timeline correct."

That's pretty much true, but I progressed to heroin. I started smoking weed, did alot of LSD, then ecstacy, took alot of pills (xanax, klonopin, valium, vicodin, percocet, tylox, MS contin, demerol, dilaudid (weak ones), etc.), did alot of ketamine, mushrooms, DMT, and just about anything else you could think of. The only thing I never got into was coke/crack and meth, because I don't like uppers. I did try them both, however.


"You seem like a smart guy. Now we all know Nancy Reagan is kind of a jackass, but you had to know that heroin was seriously -EV well before you got into it. (An episode of Intervention should clear this up for the uninitiated.)"


As I said before it escalated to me eating entire bottles of crushed up vicodin on a spoon. I met the guy I talked about earlier with the OCs and just loved the opiate high. Eventually I came across heroin, and snorted that until it stopped working. When I discovered that you could shoot OCs, I was shooting OCs and dope very soon after. I of course knew it was bad, but the opiate high is so good it just gets you hooked. I never experienced "dope sickness" until I started using needles. It's hard for me to tell whether or not the large amounts of pills were making me sick, because I always had them so never had a chance to experience a withdrawl from them. Addiction to opiates is not something that you can control, and you stop thinking about how harmful it is to your body.

"Were you just too far down the path of destruction to admit this to yourself? How many of your friends used?"

I was pretty well aware that I was down the path to destruction, but your mind has a way of rationalizing when you're addicted.

Pretty much all of them used, and still do.


"My brother was dealing coke and got popped and the only way he could see getting it together was to leave the state and start over. That was 1987 and he's only been back here once since."

Very smart thing to do. I'm leaving when I finish probation.

[Layzie]

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Did you ever meet anyone who genuinely maintained their innocence? Did you believe him?

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Yes, and yes. One guy was in for Grand Larceny and recieving stolen goods. His paperwork said that he was 24 years old and white (he showed it to me). He was 36 and black. He pleaded guilty because his lawyer told him he would likely get a fine and probation. He got 10 years. He was getting mail from high profile lawyers and the ALCU that wanted to take his case for appeal. He probably wasn't completely innocent, but he was wrongfully convicted.