As you know, I pick up litter daily, including at least three pieces from the northwest corner of Washington Square Park since the pandemic brought such hopelessness to it in the form of syringes, pipes, and the community and police abdicating responsibility to it. I don’t expect to revitalize the area by myself, but I’m not going to do nothing. I’m going to do something. As I walked along yesterday,[…] Keep reading →

In one of the highlights (lowlights?) of our second conversation, Sam shares that fentanyl users don’t like its experience as much as heroin’s. On the contrary, it’s worse. It pops them out faster from the euphoria, which makes them want to take more. It’s a worse experience that addicts them more. Their suppliers don’t care about the experience. They care that it sells more, which makes them more money. It’s[…] Keep reading →

Different people define addiction differently, but this one covers the bases: “a brain disorder characterized by compulsive engagement in rewarding stimuli despite adverse consequences.” Once, almost the only way to addict yourself to something was to try something you knew might addict you, expecting you’d stop before the addiction set in, and then find yourself addicted. That is, you may have underestimated the risk, but you consciously chose to risk[…] Keep reading →