By Law May Ning (14S03O)
Photos by Aidan Mock

“A biochemist will tell you that the ingestion of heroin provides an addict with a transcendent state of euphoria, which occurs because diacetylmorphine is being metabolized into 6-monoacetylmorphine and morphine in the brain.

He cannot tell you, however, about the intense torment which grips you when you try to go cold turkey. He cannot tell you about the sleepless nights which seem to drag on forever, while sweat pours from every burning pore in your body, or the tortuous days you have to suffer through while your head threatens to explode. He can never imagine what it is like to have every single joint in your body ache while your legs shake uncontrollably.

He has not been to hell and back.”

— An extract from Innocence Lost and Found, the fifth story in Sense of a Beginning

Continue reading “Sense of a Beginning: True Stories of Drug Addiction through Literary Lenses” →