Ellen from Baltimore
It can kill you instantly. Our friend died almost 5 years ago from an overdose. A few of his friends wondered why we hadn't heard from him in a few days. We had arranged to get together on this one evening and we kept calling, texting to no avail. We went to his home and saw his car outside, so figured he must be home. We kept knocking, then banging on his door and there was no answer. We contacted his brother, who we figured must have a spare key (as our friend lived alone) and when he finally arrived, he put the key in the lock and the deadbolt was on...that's when our fears seemed to be warranted. We had to contact the apartment rental office to try to enter his apartment and after getting the super to remove the door, his brother was the first to enter the apt.
When we heard his brother crying out, "Oh no, what did you do?", we knew that he had died. Those of us who were there that night will never forget seeing our friend humped over his coffee table in full rigor mortis with a belt and the syringe near him and the anguished call that this brother had to make to his mother. "XXXX is dead...." No one should have to ever make that call. The sad truth about this death is that no one knew that he was using...we just thought he was a pothead. He had been going through some personal trials and was justifiably depressed, but none of us knew what was going on. In fact, it seemed like his life was on the upswing...he had good things going for him. His ex-girlfriend had said that she knew that he had used heroin many years prior, but that he was very proud of the fact that he had kicked the habit. So, the other thing that everyone should know, is once an addict, always an addict.