If you’d have given me $100 eight years ago,
I’d bought some heroin
and a $20 bag of cocaine
and mixed it
and shut me down for the day.
I'm 61 years old.
I’m an outreach worker for HIPS (Helping Individual Prostitutes Survive).
We give them condoms, we give them works.
We give them anything that's harm reduction.
Well, my childhood
was a tremendous tragedy.
At the age of 13, 12,
my aunt introduced me to heroin.
She stuck the needle in my arm.
I think she mainly done it to, you know, have me go out
there and do things for her.
When she stuck that in my arm,
I was off for the races.
I was under her command,
doing everything she wanted me to do.
When I see people that I'm helping, I'm looking for me.
Meaning that, I used to be in them shoes,
I used to be the one shooting the drugs.
So I'm looking for myself, so when I help them
I am helping myself.
All right, in this bag here, I'm packing up
all the condoms.
We've got lifestyle condoms,
we've got dental dams.
These works and cookers is very important
because up there they are sharing works and cookers.
So, by him bringing this to me
that stops the spread of AIDS, yes.
We got to stop calling them "junkies"
and "no good".
We got to stop that and get to the realization
of it, that they are sick.
with diseases,
with problems.
You know, that's one of the worst disease to have
always having Mr Heroin himself on your shoulders.
Can $100 stretch far for you at all?
No, it won't.
It probably wouldn't even pay a whole bill
it'd not even pay half the bill,
maybe a third of the bill.
My rent is $2000 a month.
I think what I would do with $100 is
pay a bill
buy a six pack and chill.
I probably ain't got no business drinking but,
it will probably relax my day.
You know, calm me down and think.
Think about my day and what I got to do.