Why do poor, underclass people or those of limited means snort coke, shoot heroin, become alcoholics and smoke cigarettes? Because they’re fully convinced things won’t get any better, because they want relief from the pain, and because they believe that “brief vacations” are worth the expense because at least they deliver that thing. I can remember feeling so down and despairing (in late ’79) that I briefly flirted with the idea of some kind of opiate release. I flirted with it. I can imagine being in such a bad place that I might do more than that if there was no let-up for months or years on end.
