Free bags of heroin sicken at least 7 on West Side (Chicago)

Chicago Sun-Times ^ | 8-17-2005 | Annie Sweeney

[Cagey]

It was free but sickening.

Ambulances responded multiple times Tuesday to the same West Side neighborhood after at least seven people became ill after taking freebie bags of heroin, Chicago Police said.

Police think the heroin was being offered in the 1400 block of West Hastings.

Victims told authorities that they received free heroin in orange baggies and had taken it before getting sick. At least one victim was found passed out with his fists clenched, police spokesman Pat Camden said.

It's unclear what was wrong with the heroin, although one possibility is it was more pure than what the users were used to.

Offering free drugs is a common tactic that gangs use to lure new customers, he said. But Chicago Police wanted to warn potential drug users to be wary.

"It's the old adage,'' Camden said. "There ain't no free lunch.''

[AppyPappy]

Idiots. Absolute idiots.

"I'm gonna stick that in my blood and see what happens".

[SJSAMPLE]

As with anything, you get what you pay for.

[minus_273]

social darwinism!

[stylin19a]

old adage....first one's free...next one's 5 bucks.

[SengirV]

There are no free lunches, but apparently there are free baggies of very pure heroin. Go figure.

[tfecw]

Hmm second similar story about tainted H today. I wonder if this is some sort of OBL type of plan to kill everyone in the us (since we all do heroin) or some sort of vigilante effort to clean up the streets.

[Lazamataz]

Idiots. Absolute idiots.

Addicts.

There's a difference.

[JimWforBush]

Stay away from the red rope licorice.

[AppyPappy]

OK

Addicted idiots.

[SlowBoat407]

Anybody remember Islam, Incorporated, from "A Naked Lunch"?

[jer33 3]

Cases reported in New York as well.

[Owl_Eagle]

Well, when the trust between a drug dealer and junkie is breached, it doesn't say much for society these days. 

There was a time when honor and chivalry prevailed.  Works were shared in good cheer and you could take a man at his word that he wasn't selling you a bag of dummies.  A blue bag stood for something, quality, care, and smack cut with flour, not Ajax.  You could look a man in the eye and know that you'd be chasing the dragon in good hands.

My heart yearns for that kinder, simpler time.

Owl_Eagle

(If what I just wrote makes you sad or angry,

 it was probably sarcasm)

[BipolarBob]

Free heroin? Rats! I didn't get the memo in time.

[Lazamataz]

Addicted idiots.

Let's shoot for 'Still-suffering addicts'.

[BipolarBob]

Hear, hear!! We all long for that simpler time.

[Dallas59]

Good!

[cripplecreek]

Self correcting problem.

[Holicheese]

So if someone is offering free coke I should just say NO?

[avg_freeper]

TANSTAAFHB

[HangnJudge]

Addicts. There's a difference.

Addiction - surrendering control of self to a thing, very bad

Felix, qui potuit rerum cognoscere causas

[tfecw]

Yes, you should refrain from taking the Pepsi/Coke challenge at all costs. They fill your mailbox with propaganda until you move. ;)

[Lazamataz]

Addiction - surrendering control of self to a thing, very bad

Agreed.

However, with this broad form of definition, those who covet consumer goods can be labeled as addicts.

[cripplecreek]

There was a story a while back about terrorists approching the drug cartels in south America. Seems that the cartels didn't see the productivity in killing their clients.

[HangnJudge]

However, with this broad form of definition, those who covet consumer goods can be labeled as addicts.

This is a functional definition, not a medical / physiological one
but it works for me

Felix, qui potuit rerum cognoscere causas

[Phantom Lord]

Was the free heroin given out by the democratic party or the NAALCP to register voters?

[justshutupandtakeit]

LoL. Burrough's writing was fascinating. Wierd, perverted, loathesome but fascinating. While Naked Lunch was the best The Ticket that Exploded, The Soft Machine, Nova Express also very interesting. Even his straight narratives like the Wild Boys were good. As was a biography, Literary Outlaw.

[sockmonkey]

At least one victim was found passed out with his fists clenched

That doesn't sound like a purity problem to me, as it seems like really pure heroin would just make you completely go limp, and hit the floor in a state of poppy produced oblivion.

[ShadowDancer]

Let's shoot for not bending over backwards to pour pity on every single person who has an addiction.

[BipolarBob]

So if someone is offering free coke I should just say NO?

Yes and also PepsiFree

[freedomson]

Whoa, okay, you're maybe just a little too into Burroughs!

: )

[Lazamataz]

Let's shoot for not bending over backwards to pour pity on every single person who has an addiction.

I have great empathy for the still-suffering addict. I was one.

[tfecw]

there was a story a while back about terrorists approching the drug cartels in south America. Seems that the cartels didn't see the productivity in killing their clients.

Right, I was thinking more a pissed off father or something like that with the vigilante idea. I think my imagination is running wild with that one though. Probably someone screwed up a batch and wasn't going to tell his extremely dangerous boss he contaminated (enter extremely high number)dollars of Heroin, or ran out out of whatever they usually cut H with and substituted with something else.

[AmericanMade1776]

Read this in the New York Post Yesterday...

August 16, 2005 -- A $20 bag of bad drugs bought outside a Lower East Side bar may have been what killed two bright co-eds found unconscious in an apartment after a day of boozing, law-enforcement sources said yesterday.

Cops — who believe the tragic teens bought coke and possibly heroin on a party bender Friday — are now investigating whether their deaths can be linked to a bad batch of narcotics that also may have led to the death, by apparent overdose, of a man in his Lower East Side apartment Wednesday, sources said.


Kristopher Korkowski, a 24-year-old Russian hairdresser, was found unconscious on his sofa in his home on Avenue B.


Popular NYU scholarship student Maria Pesantez, 18, and her high-school pal, Mellie Carballo, an 18-year-old Hunter College freshman, died after passing out in the home of an ex-con and his friend whom they had met up with at the bar, sources said.
http://www.nypost.com/seven/08162005/news/regionalnews/51944.htm

[ShadowDancer]

I know you were. That doesn't change that most people can change their behavior if they really want to. A friend of my husband's just died at the age of 44 due to alcohol and prescription drug abuse. I didn't grieve for him one bit. I did and do the wife and three boys he left behind when it wasn't written in stone that it had to be.

[cripplecreek]

Yeah, if terrorists did something like this they would use ricin or something and be done with it.

[justshutupandtakeit]

Well I have read everything I am aware of that he has written. But that goes for many authors.

Hey who wouldn't wonder about a guy who shot H for 40 or 50 years and knew more about drugs than the Pharmacy School at the University of Illinois.

[cripplecreek]

I was a drunk for years and that's just as bad in my book.

[Lazamataz]

I grieve for him. I grieve for any addict who never hears the message of NA, or who hears it and doesn't heed it.

[ShadowDancer]

Sorry, I can't agree with you there.

[Lazamataz]

That's okay.

[Woman on Caroline Street]

Whiney addicts piss me off.

[Holicheese]

How about a big bottle of Moxie?
Ouch that stuff was rough.

[Little Ray]

And the reason I should care? Let 'em face the consequences.

[Constitution Day]

TANSTAFH^*

[Guenevere]

#42..Grow some love, will ya!....sheesh!

[Woman on Caroline Street]

Read Lazamataz's profile before you tell ME to get some love.

[Texas Eagle]

What a dilemma. Who do they sue?

[knak]

Great idea to combat drug use though.

[Guenevere]

#47..I've read it.
It's cool.

Don't insult Laz...he's a good guy!