
["I lost my family. Because of Crystal I lost everything."]
—
I remember when we first moved here a young man in his early twenties was sitting on the trunk of a parked car. As I walked up, he asked loudly into the air, “Anybody want to buy some crack or crystal meth?” From that day on I noticed that each and every day people from different communities in LA drive real slowly onto our street, and stop in front of the same apartment buildings to buy drugs. This is in addition to the numerous pedestrians who live nearby and walk up to do the same.
One day I asked a neighbor how much he pays for his weed since he was out of a job. “I don’t pay full price. I get it homey love.” (He explained this means his gang sells it to him at a discount.)
A different day: “Ah man, this is good s—,” a man in his late thirties remarks as he blazes. Red-eyed, he says he gets his weed with a doctor’s note at one of the nearby medical marijuana vendors. “Hey, don’t smoke it all, fool! Leave some for me,” somebody complains. The man passes the giant joint to his younger friend.
Earlier this week: I’m walking past some young men. “Hey, Phil. You want a hit of this?” one guy offers me. I refuse, but we talk for a little while under a tree by the sidewalk. As I’m leaving, the guy shouts again, “Anytime you want some weed, you got it. Let me know.”
Yesterday: I walk up and greet two familiar faces sitting on the front steps of a multi-level apartment building. White clouds are puffing out of one man’s mouth as he lights his bong in broad daylight. “We don’t have to leave our apartment building to get stuff, you know. You can buy weed, crystal meth and crack on every single floor.” He is frothing at the mouth. A group of teenagers walk by and tell him half-jokingly, “Hey save some for me!”
The other man sitting next to him looks sullen. I ask him what’s wrong. He laments, “I’m using crystal meth again. Not as much as before, but it’s so hard to quit. It’s so tempting here. It’s everywhere.”
I see it, too. What I also see everywhere is hope.
Categories: stories, the why
Comments Off