CRACK COCAINE

“I lived with a crack addict for nearly a year. I loved that addict—who was my boyfriend—with all my heart, but I couldn’t stick [with] it any more.

“My ‘ex’ stole incessantly and couldn’t tear himself away from his pipe. I think crack is more evil than heroin—one pipe can be all it takes to turn you into an immoral monster.” —Audrey

“I had acquired a $2,000-per-week crack cocaine habit and desperately wanted to be free from the chains.” —Jennifer

“The only thing on my mind was crack cocaine. And if somebody offers you any of it, you would jump at it and take it. It is like offering a starving man a loaf of bread if he walks for miles. Things came to a head for me when I’d been smoking constantly for a couple of weeks. One day I just decided I’d had enough—I couldn’t live like this any more and I tried to commit suicide. I’m going to have to try and fight. I hope my survival instincts kick in.” —John

“In sixty years I had never done drugs and drank only socially, but never to excess. I retired as a successful corporate exec who had put two daughters through college and had earned my retirement. My retirement party was however the beginning of five years of hell. That was when I was introduced to crack cocaine for the first time. Over the next five years, I would lose my home, my wife, all my financial resources, my health and almost my life. I also spent two years in prison.” —William

“I was introduced to smoking crack cocaine, and that was when everything stopped functioning. I was out with some people who at that time I considered real close friends. You know, it is true what they say about crack: ‘when you take that first hit, that high you will never get again.’ It ruined me completely. It took total control over me. Crack cocaine has ruined my reputation, my self-worth and my self-respect.” —Dennis