Take on Opiates

There is not much that Chris Christie and I have in common, he likes the Cowboys and I'm a Jets fan, he likes the Mets and I hate baseball, he is a loudmouth obese blowhard and, well I guess we do have a few things in common.
One thing Big Chris is dead right on is in addition to his love of Bruce is the opiate epidemic which he rightfully convinced Trump to call a national crisis. Big Chris knows a thing or two about addiction and he has been on this for some time, I always assumed it was more a rural America thing but lately it's right in my face. I've worked in New York City for 20 years and lived there for 14 and not until this summer have I seen such blatant depravity on the streets.
It started with the loosening of the marijuana laws, there isn't a day that goes by when I walk by and don't smell some fresh herb mixed with the aroma of the peanut vendor and the dirty dog guy.

But weed is basically harmless, what I'm seeing now is much worse. I have literally seen people camped out on old mattresses by my office shooting up in broad daylight. I had never in my 41 years of life seen heroin but two weeks ago at 8:45 in the morning I saw one guy inject another with a needle which looked like it came out of the Trainspotting bathroom. We're not talking about a dark alley or an abandoned park, this is 6th avenue in midtown Manhattan.
Today I saw a guy laid out on 36th street in the middle of sidewalk. Last week I saw a woman in her late twenties propped up and past out right by Port Authority.
This isn't some rural problem anymore and it's getting worse by the day.