Tuesday, March 05, 2019

It's an epidemic.

The person across the aisle from me on the train this morning was splayed out, snoozing across both seats they were on. At first I thought they were just being rude, until they moved their head on the backpack they were using as a pillow and a ton of empty little baggies and needles fell onto the floor. I just stared in shock. What do you do in a situation like that? I mean, the person looked pretty normal, and I had just assumed they were a student catching a quick nap before school.

Opioids are a huge problem and their abuse isn't being properly addressed. I've know addicts and was never sure what I could do to help. I bet you know addicts too, even if you're unaware. It's so depressing and I feel so useless.

Eventually a conductor came into our car and woke the person up. They told them to clean up all the stuff on the floor, and then left the person alone. I think that might've been the most disturbing thing. This is so common that public transit staff just treat it as a routine, mundane occurrence.

I hope that person is O.K.

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