‘Tony’ talks here about his reasons for coming into methadone treatment for the first time. As a smoker of heroin and crack to start with, he discovered the feeling of injecting heroin while already on methadone. Although offered to him, he never wanted to go on a dose higher than 60 mg daily. This was … More People’s views: Methadone isn’t only for abstinence

        This person was able to use heroin only occasionally for over 6 months, until this friend told them to use heroin to sort out the sickness. Someone else said:   These quotes highlight the power of information, and how beliefs rather than physical discomfort create a heroin habit: Without the beliefs … More People’s views: That’s not a cold…

This person made it clear to me that for some people methadone does more than to ease the heroin withdrawals or the cravings for heroin: it can make someone’s crack high feel better. This wasn’t a singular opinion. For example, someone else said: I imagine it like this: The short crack high is usually followed … More People’s views: Methadone makes crack better

  There’s two things I learned from this: It is so quick to think that speedballing (or smoking both drugs together) is special because heroin and crack are one hit all together – but even when taken together it’s the crack hitting the brain first. The ‘come down’ (after crack use) everyone talks about isn’t … More People’s views: Coming down?

For my research project on Methadone, IV use and crack I spent around 100 hours talking to heroin and crack users. After putting together results for abstracts and publications I was left with so many unspoken lessons learned from the participants. And I felt they needed another form of expression. This is a series of … More People’s views