You're Not Quite Sure

But something isn't quite right with a friend, a family member, a lover or a co-worker. Their behavior isn't what it should be or at least what it used to be. You suspect that there is something going on that shouldn't be.

You think that your _________ (fill in the blank) may be smoking CRACK!

At this time I am not going to address what you should do with those suspicions. My advice in that regard isn't worth the pixels dancing across your monitor. What I will talk about is how you might be able to better confirm those suspicions.

Some of the things described here are markers for any drug user or abuser, but I know crack and that is going to be what's talked about here. This also is about physical signs of use. Behaviors can be explained away but hard evidence is much tougher to disregard.


So....

Is the person you're concerned about carrying around a few too many lighters and they don't smoke? Or maybe they smoke cigarettes and never seem to have a lighter on them at all, regardless of how many you may have given them or you have seen them buy. A crackhead can never have too many lighters and almost always seem to be out of them. They may often have a collection of used up lighters or parts of lighters strewed about their living space. Crackheads are also notorious lighter thieves.

They are sorta' like the guy at the office with the pencil eating pocket.

The suspected crackhead in your life doesn't know a spark plug from a dipstick, but their hands look more like a diesel mechanic's than a hair dresser's.

Unusually dirty fingers and fingernails didn't get that way from changing the oil in their car. More likely than not they got dirty from cleaning their pipe or stretching the screen. The soot and burnt up Brillo gets ground into their fingers and doesn't always get out with a simple rinsing of their hands. Calluses on their thumbs, index and middle fingers are markers as well. Blisters from burns on the fingers are also common to the crackhead as well.

You can't "Flic Your Bic" a few thousand times without it showing up somewhere.

Another thing is that I've drank enough coffee to fill a super tanker, but have yet to burn my lips because of that. I have burned my lips on a crack pipe on numerous occasions. So the excuse that the coffee was too hot doesn't make it, especially if some of the other signs I've talked about are present.

There is always Chore Boy around but they've never scrubbed a pot in their life.

Chore Boy is the screen of choice for most crack smokers. It's used to hold the rock in the pipe so it can be vaporized to smoke. When the screen is cut it invariably leaves some crumbs. While every effort is made to clean up the mess afterwards a few small pieces escape unnoticed. These copper refugees end up on the floor, trapped in the carpet or under the floor mat of their car. Sometimes those little buggers are even clinging to the crackheads clothes.

A fellow "client" at a rehab I went through made this observation. "After a nuclear war the only things that will survive are cockroaches and Chore."

Financial matters are another matter entirely.

If your suspected crackhead is always broke, that in and of itself isn't reason to suspect a problem. Constantly borrowing money, usually in multiples of $20.00 is a better marker for crack use. Checking accounts that are overdrawn more often than not, calls from collection agencies or constant use of "payday loans" are good indicators as well. Combine that with any or all of the signs mentioned above and you have a crack head in your midst.

Money that comes up missing or personal items that disappear often occurs long after the cat's out of the bag. If things are at that point and you're still not sure you're dealing with a cracker, you may need some professional help for yourself.

There are other less physical evidences of illicit drug use. Those are behaviors that probably be common to any addict. I am not equipped to adequately go into those things. I leave that to the more learned psychologists, social workers and others who proclaim some expertise in those areas.

I'll just stick with the physical signs so you can know who you may be dealing with. You'll no longer be a Mushroom. "A Mushroom is kept in the dark and feed a lot of bullshit."

I got that off of a refrigerator magnet.

What you do with the information is on you now. I am no expert in how to deal with people who are in the same boat as me. Well I do have some feelings about what to do, but those ideas aren't going to be shared right now.

Maybe having them read this blog will enlighten them to some degree. You know, give them a glimpse of how crappy life can be as a Crackhead.