IV Drug Abuse: Inside the Clinic

An exclusive look inside one of the country's best IV drug treatmentunits

By PT Staff, published on May 01, 1993 - last reviewed on October 18, 2004

"So what if that's true? I've been living with prejudice all my life," said Janice, a heaviset woman from the back row. It was the first time she had spoken during the session. "It's still just hate. And your choice is the same. You either let it get you or you don't. And believe me, feelin' hate all the time ain't going to make you feel much better when the time comes to be sick or not. This is my family," she gestured to two young women just behind her. "I'm lucky to have them. When I don't have the guts to fight, they do it for me."

"I watch my baby getting sicker every day," said Mary, staring into a cup of coffee. "I wake up every day knowing that I didn't just mess up my life, but that I poisoned my baby. I cry every day for her, and I want to give up half the time, but I have two other girls to think about. Now if I can deal with that, you can deal with findin' a job."

"Yeah. You do have a family," said Earnest. "But what if you don't. What the hell are you supposed to do if nobody believes in you. I lost the last of my family three years ago. I have to fight for me now. And who can believe doctors? What does anyone who don't have HIV have to tell me? As if the man behind the desk is going to give a shit if I live or die. It's a paycheck to him, and you're all fools if you don't know that."

"Ernest, none of the staff here are getting rich, believe me," said a nurse standing near the doorway. "If we wanted a fat paycheck, there are other ways..."

"You all go to families at the end of the day though," Ernest spat. "You go home, eat a big dinner, watch TV. I'm here with nothing, do you understand?"

"So you're pissed," said the man next to him. "So what? What do you want the nurse to do, bleed for you? If you're really sitting there waiting for this woman to solve your problems, you're gonna be pissed off till you die. If that's what you want, go ahead, but don't be telling anyone here that they're fools."

"That's real easy. Just go off and figure shit out. No help. No family," Ernest said.

"You find some family then," said Janice. "You stop being hurt all the time and take a look around ... how 'bout at the people in this room. And you know," she smiled, "it seems to me you always left here with something, Earnest."

"Besides the coffee," Mary said.

Figures vary among the four clinics that Dr. Curtis directs, but approximately 60 percent of those who appear at the clinic doors in Harlem are HIV positive. "And we have the facilities to see just a small fraction of those addicts who would accept help," says Dr. Curtis. "At least in the short term, the medical community is perplexed in dealing with HIV. Any hope simply lies in stopping the spread. And distributing information is not enough. A solution will only come from a comprehensive network of social services. It is imperative that these people not be left to die alone, because they won't. Unless we intervene, their families, and others, may well follow."