Since 1980, the US prison population has quadrupled. Since 1990 it's more than doubled. Many of these are dope cases. So that's where a lot of them end up.
But there are plenty of "zombies" still out there. I can't imagine the life span of a crack addict is too long, though. Many of them probably die curled up in an abandoned building somewhere.
My best friend became a terrible heroin junkie and we lost contact. The last time I saw him was around 2003 or so, and I was embarrassed for him. He'd lost all his teeth, and had a huge scar on his face where someone had jumped him on the street.
I saw his mom last summer, and she told me he died sitting in a wheelchair on Woodward and Willis. It's sad but inevitable. This was a really smart, good-looking guy, too. I stopped hanging out with him in our early 20s, because even by then he was too far gone on that shit, and I wanted no part of it.
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