Edmond was 33 when he took his own life. He had been involved with drugs and alcohol for half of his life. They had ruled his life for the last 10 years. Heroin was his preference, but he would take anything to escape reality. Heroin was hard to come by where he was living, but crack cocaine is available practically everywhere at the universal price of $5.00. I understand that the high from crack is over quickly and all that's left is depression and longing for more.
The only times he was successfully drug free were when he was locked up for petty crimes and probation violations. His longest stay was 1.5 years in Riverfront Prison in Camden, NJ. He spent time in Camden County and Chester County as well. Every lock-up was drug related.
He was a joy when he was young. Eager to please, inquisitive, helpful, bright and cheerful, and exceptionally good with his hands. Somewhat artistic and very mechanically inclined. I remember when he was 7 or 8 we were in the mall and someone was selling marionettes of animals. They intrigued him. When I returned from work the next day (I was a construction worker), he had made a working marionette out of a wooden block and some string and tape and some domino sized pieces of wood and a couple of wooden rulers. I was really impressed and proud of him!
I attempted to get him in my union, but he had lost his license and driving to jobs was a must. He wound up doing a lot of landscaping work. I did get him trained in welding and he was very good at it. A few years ago he went to work for a friend of mine who had a specialty metal-working business and he really impressed my friend. Unfortunately drugs tend to make you miss work. My friend came to me before he let Edmond go (for missing work & coming in late) and said that he was the most talented person who had ever worked for him over a span of 22 years. It broke my heart knowing that all that talent and promise was wasted on a person who could not face his day to day existence clean and sober.
Some day our country may finally wake up and spend more money on drug education and psychological counseling than they do on arresting and jailing abusers. If the decision were mine, I would decriminalize all drugs to stop the killings and crime. Letting the addicts get their fixes legally would certainly be an improvement over today's situation.
As for me, I will be forever haunted by the sight of my only son hanging from an extension cord tied to a light fixture in the bedroom of his apartment. That is how I found him after being unable to reach him for 2 days by phone. Crack cocaine had claimed another victim.