Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Heroin Addiction Demystified

I love it when what I'm reading is relatable to my every day life and leads to topics for blog posts. It makes everything come together in such a nice, neat package type thing.

The Boyfriend's dad dropped off some reading material a few weeks ago and I'm just finishing them off now. Titles included Life by Keith Richards and My Booky Wook: A Memoir of Sex, Drugs and Stand-Up by Russell Brand. The last time I saw this latter title, it was clutched in the sweaty hands of Veronica as she screwed up her face trying hard to make sense of all the black dots on the pages (otherwise known as words). I know I shouldn't have let Veronica's taste in anything influence my reading choices but back when she was struggling to read it, I must have put that title on some sort of mental reading black list because when it appeared in my house I thought that maybe I would just skip that one.

But then I didn't because a) The Boyfriend's dad thought that I would enjoy it and b) Veronica can't even read anyway so she was probably just looking at the pictures. 

Turns out Russell brand is a deep, eloquent, wise kind of person with a wicked vocabulary.

And a penchant for heroin and prostitutes.

Obviously.

Actually, being nearly finished the book now, I can't even imagine what The Boyfriend's dad was thinking while he was reading this book because its pretty insane. Especially the parts involving jerking off other men. I can't even believe that Russell Brand is still alive to be honest. 

But he is and he's brilliant and there is this one part in the book that really stands out and I promise that I'm finally getting to that now. 

So Russell Brand has this love of heroin and he attempts to describe what heroin does for junkies for the benefit of those of us that have possibly never been seduced by this particular drug. He says that heroin fills the need for something. Like how when a child says I want something and the parent is like what? A candy? A toy? A drink? What? And the kid doesn't know, just that s/he wants something. Brand says that we all have the desire for something, not necessarily knowing what that something is. And heroin filled that for him.

For Keith Richards, heroin was all about maintenance, but that's a whole other story. Literally. Its called Life by Keith Richards.

I totally relate to this idea. I definitely have a hankering for something. But I have no idea what that something is. I'm assuming that its something career-related, but I still can't seem to nail down exactly what that career-related something is.

Conclusion: I'm going to become a heroin addict.

Probably not. Obviously in Russell Brand's case there were some other things that led him down the path to heroin (narcissism, molestation, dad issues, narcissism, sex addiction, narcissism) but I definitely get what he's going on about. Like really get it. Bizarre. 

Anyway, you should just read the book. Because aside from all the deep, thought provoking stuff, there are also some excellent stories involving homeless people, strip clubs, boarding school and public nudity. Sold you on it didn't I?

PS Despite spending the past day and a half reading the word 'heroin' over and over again, I still used the word 'heroinE' throughout this post. Then realized it was wrong and changed them all lest I really confuse those readers that CAN tell the difference.

1 comment: