Heroin Selfies

BY Led Black (@Led_Black)

What a small world. All this time, I thought I was the only one that took selfies of their heroin induced downward spiral. Just kidding, of course, if you know me, you know that I don’t do… selfies. I kid – I kid. I find heroin almost as abhorrent as selfies. As a kid growing up in Washington Heights in the late 80’s and early 90’s, I saw, and was surrounded by, way too much drugs, drug dealers and addicts.

Heroin addicts were by far the worst looking of the bunch. It was the way they nodded, almost falling to the floor, when caught in heroin’s grip or how bad they yearned for the drug once they were without it. The needle tracks and the horrible open sores that covered their emaciated bodies were the telltale signs of a dopehead.

New York Magazine ran a great article recently on the work of photographer Graham MacIndoe, who had the wherewithal to document his descent into heroin addiction. What makes the piece even more powerful is that it was a written by his former girlfriend who witnessed the unraveling firsthand. Luckily, Graham was able to gain back his sobriety and is using the series of pictures as a way of giving people a real and unfiltered look at addiction in America.

Check out the NY Mag piece: My Addiction, Through My Eyes

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