I'm in Georgia. It is really bad. Alot of people in my city are on something, or going to the methadone clinic. I haven't heard of any heroin around here, but you don't have to travel too far. Harm reduction is unheard of. There are no needle exchanges, even though I.v. use is everywhere. I know people who will shoot up anything they can get their hands on. Suboxone, Methadone, cocaine, crack, meth, I've seen people shoot up all of them, and reuse the same needles until they are able to acquire more. It breaks my heart seeing how desperate people here are. And not to mention our shitty doctors. I went to the Methadone clinic so I could quit having to do the whole "hustling" shit. Since I had depression issues, I was told to go to a psychologist and get some help. And I did. And I made a huge mistake, I told the Dr. about my Methadone and that I was on 40mgs. "Oh!" He said "So you just really like to feel good. I guess you came here to get some klonopin?" (Id been prescribed klonopin for years, as I have epilepsy.) I explained that I was up to 80mgs and had been tapering down, and the lower I got, the more panic attacks I had. He refused to give me the klonopin, saying i was "trying to kill myself" but that was fine, as I lost one of my best friends to Methadone and Xanax, but they weren't prescribed and he knew he was taking too much. Anyway, he said he'd write me a Rx for my Pristiq and I said thanks, but got quiet because he was being rude. "You're being quiet. You mad at me? You want this Pristiq, of does it not give you enough of a buzz? " I've never been so disrespected. And I will never be honest to another Dr. again. Along with my best friend, we also recently lost a good friend who was a member of our church. Since he died from withdrawing in jail, his family had to lie to everyone about what happened. I really wish they didn't, so we could teach people about how ugly it is, but the stigma would ruin this family. They're upper class, white, perfect family. This was unheard of to them. There is tragedies everywhere I look. Last year we had a neighbor come visit and ask for a cigarette, we obliged and he sat down and just nodded out. Like, we couldn't wake him up, and this is a 59 year old man. We sat out there for a few hours, trying to wake him, and making sure he didn't stop breathing or fall out and Burt himself. He eventually got up when his momma came over slapping him. She was upset with us, but I bit my tongue because I could tell he embarrassed her. It's really weird here how deep the shame from embarrassment goes to refueling the addiction. Suicide is also a big problem at our Methadone clinic, people who have to go days without a dose because they can't afford it. One woman was a mom to three children, I didn't k ow her buy it made me really upset. I wish there was something, some program, some way to help people who can't pay sometimes. I wish they cared about the patients just a little bit more than they do their profit margins.