“It got to the point where I was stealing from stores,...

“It got to the point where I was stealing from stores, breaking into car windows. Everything but prostitution. I was living in the streets. Sometimes I wouldn’t shower for weeks at a time. Then one day I was walking down 149th by Lincoln Hospital, and I bumped into a drug counselor named Mr. Crespo. He took me to get some food. He gave me a few dollars. And he told me that I didn’t have to live like this anymore. I went to the methadone clinic the next day. And now I’m hooked on that instead of heroin. It’s a mixed blessing. At least it’s coming from a doctor and not a pusher. I always know where my next fix is coming from. I can work now. I can pay bills. I can be reliable and productive. It doesn’t get you high like heroin, but it takes away the urges. But it’s like liquid handcuffs because the withdrawals are just as bad. If I stop for twenty-four hours, it feels like fire in my bones. And they only give you one dose a time. So I get to the clinic every morning at 6 AM, and there are already one hundred people in line.”