Drugs are bad... Mmmmkay?

Today's lesson is not a new topic. In fact, former first lady Nancy Reagan started this crusade 20+ years ago. Just say NO to drugs. Now I am not going to say that I don't know anyone that uses or has used drugs. But I can tell you some first hand (and second hand) accounts of the troubles that have come to be from drugs. Oddly, it seems looking back that one drug in particular seems to be the one that did them all in. Heroin is VERY bad... Mmmmkay? Don't do heroine, don't sell, heroin, don't even sit next to heroin on a bus. I don't mean to make light of the serious problem some people have had with it but by now you should be getting the picture that this is meant to be a mostly light hearted corner of the Internet and I know you didn't come here to be preached to. You want to be entertained. So in the spirit of General Maximus Decimus Meridius I come to entertain you with the misery of others.

We will start our little trip down memory lane with the most recent unfortunate young lady to fall victim to "The 'H' Word". Last year we had a very lovely young lady start working at the club who had just moved from Connecticut. She greatly resembled Mena Suvari in her "American Pie" days. She wasn't the most talkative girl and probably not the brightest but she was nice enough. Always worked hard and made her money. Not a problem maker that I could tell. We will call her "Heather" in honor of Miss Suvari's character in the movie. Well, Heather had a boyfriend named Bob and they lived out in the sticks about 40 minutes west of the club. She bought him nice cars that he drove into guard rails late at night and destroyed. I believe he had some form of job working for his father or something. But it was clear that she made the money in the house. Anyway, fast forward a bit to this past summer. I got a call from "Heather" saying she was going to take some time off from work because they had been hanging out with some old friends from Connecticut and she had a lot of money saved up. None of this seemed that out of the norm so I just figured she would turn back up when money was low. Imagine my surprise when I heard from a friend that they found out she had been arrested recently in the largest heroin bust in Tompkins County in over a quarter century. It seems that her "friend", her boyfriend, and she had gotten into the drug trade business. She was arrested for selling 4 bags of heroin to an undercover officer. Later, Bob was picked up with over 40 bags on him. When they went into their hotel room they ended up with over 2700 bags of heroin. That's about $100k worth of the drug. I think it's safe to say she will not be back to work soon. So now this 21 year old girl is facing felony drug charges as are her 23 year old boyfriend and their partner. She is claiming she sold to support her habit but to be honest I never saw a sign that she used drugs and it is probably part of a plea deal. After all my years in the industry I am not ever really surprised by anything that happens but this came close. I am very sorry that her life has come to this and I do wish her the best.

Our next unfortunate victim of this dreadful drug is a former DJ at the club. "Jim" started working at the club soon after I arrived as a bartender. He was a couple years older then I was but looked even younger then I did (which back then was pretty young). He had over come a problem with heroin when he was younger and I heard many of his tales of drugs and debauchery through the years. He had managed to stay away for a long time and primarily smoked marijuana and cigarettes and occasionally drank. He had been known to take some prescription pills on occasion but for the most part had been successful in living a mostly normal life. He had a fiance and two daughters. He had bought his first car and was really proud of how far he had come in life. Then one night he was driving one of the dancers home and she asked him to stop at a friend's house. She didn't mention that it was to buy drugs. Well, Jim gave in to temptation and tried some heroin again. Soon he was back using full time. He was coming in late falling asleep at work, shooting up in the dj booth, stealing when the opportunity presented itself. Finally, I had to let Jim go. It was hard since he was one of my oldest and best friends but it had to be done. He continued down hill and finally had to leave the state. The last time I talked to him on the phone we had plans to meet for lunch around Thanksgiving 2007. Instead of getting a call from him it was his fiance asking why I had given him Percocets. I had to explain I had no idea what she was talking about since I had not seen him in months and was waiting to get his call so we could meet for lunch that day. She made him call to apologize for lying and blaming me when I had nothing to do with it. I let that call go to voicemail and listened to it later. I never did call him back to reschedule that lunch like he asked. Another in a never ending line of people that have lost their lives to drugs. This story does have a happier end then some. I heard from Jim on one of my online peer sites just before Christmas. He now lives in Boston and is back with his fiance. He has been clean for over seven months and that was one of the best gifts I could have received for Christmas. In the event he reads this I hope he knows just how proud I am of him and how much I hope he is able to maintain his sobriety.

Other people have had even less luck getting away then Jim did. I've had two dancers die of heroin overdoses after being fired from the club in the past few years. One was fired after overdosing at the club on a Saturday night while I was out of town on business. She would always call me every month or two just to ask if I'd consider taking her back. She would always tell me she was clean and hadn't used since that night. That that was just the second time she had ever tried it and she never would again. She went to one of the other local clubs and was dancing there. One night she was hanging out with a girl from my club. She ended up in a coma and died about a week later. She left behind her mother and a young daughter. The dancer that worked for me was fired and to this day still asks to come back. She is on a very short list of girls that will NEVER be allowed back. Oddly, the dancer that passed away was a childhood friend of a dancer that I used to date. The odd part is that my ex used to use heroin. She had a severe problem with it before I took her in and helped her to straighten out her life. Her brother died about a year before her childhood friend did. His death was also drug related. But their story is for another time.

There isn't much that a person on drugs won't do to get more money to buy more drugs. I've had thousands of dollars in cash and valuables stolen from me. I've made the mistake of believing their stories and trusting in them. I eventually learned that you can't trust someone on drugs. Because it isn't them in charge anymore. The drugs will say anything and do anything to keep control. They don't mind stealing or lying or just about anything else. Drugs don't care if you end up in jail or in a morgue. Like Mr. Mackey tried to teach you... "Drugs are bad. Mmmkay?"