A meditation on the painful limits of social policy, from a brochure, titled "Shoot Smart Shoot Safe: Tips for safer crack injection," distributed along with clean needles to the addicts of Bridgeport, Connecticut:

Get your stuff ready:

1. Have a cooker, water, syringe, citric or ascorbic acid, cotton, and alcohol wipes ready.
2. Put crack and citric or ascorbic acid (about a pinch to a slab) in cooker. Add plenty of water (about 30-40 I.U.). Smash and mix well.
3. Add cotton and draw up into syringe.

Get a vein ready:

1. Tie off, find a good vein, and clean with an alcohol wipe.
2. Inject; make sure you are in a vein, register, look for blood backflow in syringe.
3. Slowly push plunger in for injection. This helps to avoid vein trauma and collapse.
4. Withdraw needle. Apply pressure for about a minute. Use clean gauze, tissue, cloth, or whatever you have handy.

Take care of yourself:

1. Drink plenty of fluids. Juice, water, Gatorade, whatever you can.
2. EAT—nutrition is important.
3. Take a vitamin. Extra vitamin C is a plus.
4. Take care of your veins. Rotate injection sites, use an antibiotic ointment on your injection sites.

Remember!!!

1. Never share a syringe or cooker.
2. Always use a new syringe with every injection.
3. Rotate veins. Use different veins often.
4. Always clean injection area with an alcohol wipe before injecting.
5. Use only citric or ascorbic acid to dissolve crack. Avoid vinegar or lemon juice; these can lead to serious infections.

If speedballing:

1. Prepare you dope as normal.
2. Add crack, citric acid and follow steps in #2.

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