Waves of pleasure cascaded throughout Tim's body. Colors danced
at the edge of his vision, and followed in tracery wherever he turned
his head. He let out a sigh, and that set off happy reverberations
throughout. Suddenly he was up and moving, around the room, outside
in the yard. It dimly occurred to him that maybe he might not want
others to see him like this.
But most of them are high too,
on a Saturday afternoon...
He let out a guffaw. Then he
moved back inside and around the house. He found an old model
airplane, half-finished, and entertained himself studying it and
poking around. Leafing through books and puttering around, he
eventually descended from the euphoric plane and came back down to
earth.
Wow, that shit is not too bad.
Especially considering the price.
He fished out his 5-pack of
Freforal and counted: Four left. Four smashing buzzfests. Then
he could go get more – next week.
Many in the press considered the
new government program to give away a free drug a poor idea. But
there was enough support to try it out on a limited basis. So
regular users like Tim wouldn't have to turn to the local dealer, and
risk arrest, for their high. They could go to an approved pharmacy
and request their free supply of “Freforal,” a synthetic opioid
that gave a short but very intense high – and was free for the
asking, to anyone that was 21 or over.
The thinking went that it would
drive the illicit drug trade out of business. How could they compete
with a free high, that was basically harmless?
Tim giggled to himself, and then
called up a friend.
“Hey Ron? That shit rocks.
It works.”
“How long did it last?” asked
Ron, a buddy and fellow user.
“About two and a half hours,
just like promised. I might try to double up, or try it mixed with
some H. But hell, for the price, it really delivers, man.”
“Cool. I'm headed over to the
Pharm now. We'll have to do a hit together. Later, man.”
“Later.” Tim ended the call.
He cracked open a beer, and turned on the TV. Ron arrived a hour
later, laughing and giggling.
“Woooa yeah, man, this shit is
awesome! C'mon, man, do one with me.”
“Don't have to ask twice. Here
goes nothing...” And Tim popped two tabs in his mouth, washing
them down with a swig of Bud Lite.
Soon the two of them were aping TV
announcers and others, laughing, rolling around. For a couple of
hours, they had a great time. Then the high receded.
“What the hell. We can always
get more, right? They are free,” said Tim.
Ron looked at him with bloodshot
eyes, considering.
“Yeah. You know, we might even
get a buddy to go get more for us. Are you up for it?”
“Always, man. Always. Here
goes...” And Tim popped the last tab into his mouth, and downed it
with another swig of beer. Ron did the same with his last.
“Wooowee that is sweet,” said
Ron. Even as he said it, he noticed that it was not quite as sweet
as when he downed two at once. And they would have to get more
somehow.
“Yeah, real fine. I say after
this, we call it a night and figure out another supply tomorrow.
Sound cool?”
“Cool by me, man,” replied
Ron. They watched some TV, and relaxed, mostly silent. By the
second hour, they were dozing off.
The news reporters went on
overdrive:
“New program deemed an expensive
failure.”
“Free opiate test run found to
increase demand.”
“What was supposed to be a cure
turned out a bigger problem than ever!”
After a month, the US FDA and DEA
threw in the towel. A spokesperson explained,
“We had no way of knowing how
effective this program would be until we live-tested it. Obviously
things are not working out as planned. We express the deepest
regret for the way things have turned out...”
Tim and Ron managed to get a buddy
to hand over some extras the next day. After that, it began to cost
them. Some people did not need the high, but they did need the extra
income. And others who would have never tried anything, tried
Freforal out of curiosity. The Heroin dealers noticed that business
dropped off for awhile, and then increased. Demand went higher than
ever.
Emergency rooms began to see a
spike in overdose victims. Tim found himself there, looking up at a
distant ceiling after being brought back.
“Hey, kid? You awake? Good.
Eyes look better. Can you hear me?”
Tim grunted out a yes.
“Excellent. You can be out of
here soon. Just a little word of advice,” said the PA.
“Wha – whats that?” replied
Tim.
“Nothing good in life is free.
Remember that.”
“All right,” grunted Tim. A
while later, he stumbled out of the hospital, and set off to find a
Metro station. But he was back in the ER within a week.
The
End
