This is how it works folks. Convenience stores sell these little glass roses. They are usually displayed prominently right next to the brillo scouring pads.
The addict buys the tube and brillo, takes some of the steel wool like substance of the brillo and stuffs it into the end of one tube. They then take a rock, place it on the end of the tube and suck through the tube while lighting the crack with a lighter. They get a quick little high out of every puff, it lasts between seconds and minutes, depending on how strong the stuff is, and how big of a dose they sucked in.
They tell me it's better than sex.
After they've smoked enough crack through the pipe, some of the smoke congeals on the inside of the glass in the form of a dirty brownish stain. When junkies are out of crack rocks, they will then smoke the "push".
They take a piece of clothes hanger, and push the brillo pad back and forth through the tube, thereby scrapping the brown stain onto the brillo pad. Once they have done this sufficiently, they can then smoke the "push" which is the residue trapped in the brillo pad.
That is EXACTLY what they do, and I didn't read it in a government report. I've seen it done first hand, many times.
I think that the reason for so much ignorance out there regarding this issue is the fear of hanging around with these people. Most of the crack dealers are black and often dangerous. The town I live in is notably absent of racial animosity, and the relationships between black and white folk in this town are relatively good. This town is the beneficiary of a significant military base, and the military attitude of accepting other races as equal has created an environment with very low racial hostility.
For that reason, it is probably safer for a white person to delve into the dark recesses of the underground drug culture, and see for themselves what is going on. I would be hesitant to try such a thing in Chicago, or Baltimore, but it was not AS risky in this town.
I've rummaged through the black (and white) subculture in this town, and i've seen much of what they do, and how, and why, they do it. I've been to black churches, black clubs, crack houses, mansions, hotel rooms, strip clubs, dark streets, family get togethers, and i've met pimps, whores, gang bangers, addicts, thieves, transvestites, nuts, queers, snitches, narcs, johns, dealers, merchants, lesbians, boosters and street prophets. I've met saints, sinners and fools. I've created long time friendships with people i've met in these situations, and I have been taken into many people's confidence.
I am not relating a study, I am relating what I have seen personally with my own two eyes, and what I've heard with my own two ears. The people of the street mostly know each other, and they have their own rituals and protocols as well as their own social structure. I knew the Queen of the Street, and I knew the King as well. They had their own reasons for living the life they lived, and i'll not go into details on that, suffice it to say, I understand probably better than most the despair that some people endure, and which drives them to try and forget their troubles.
I wish them all well in their pursuits in life, but I fear that for some of them, happiness is not going to be in the cards.
