Philip estimates that he injected $1 million into each of his scar-tracked arms during the 18 years he lost to heroin.
He watched his Fall River home with its granite countertops, his job as a truck driver, his marriage, and his relationship with his two young children evaporate as quickly as the money he used to keep the sickness of withdrawal at bay.
“It’s a chase every day, from the time you wake up to the time you go to bed,” Philip said.
“I lost everything, just for a drug.”
Philip arrived late to heroin, first snorting it at a friend’s urging at age 27 after becoming hooked on the Percocet that had been prescribed for a back injury. Within a week, his days and nights were ruled by the quest to get more heroin by any means. He’d inject some $450 worth a day. He’d buy it in Providence and sell it in Fall River at a $150 profit to fuel his habit.