No mention of alcohol and HIV. I was working with adolescent boys with HIV and alcoholism. I have read thousands of these well-written, cogent pieces. But even the mention in this article – and all the others – is missing a lot. AIDS means stigma. Alcohol does not block the pain. HIV can be racism on steroids. I don’t know where you live, but in my little world, Appalachia, it matters what side of the tracks you live on. Mixing this stuff will kill you. Access is a fantasy. 12 teenage boys is a goodly portion of many tiny American towns that have their own issues. Acting Up was not an option. AIDS did not spare them. Oxycontin did not spare them.

It took me a while  to comprehend that the addiction to Oxy was causing their medications to become toxic. The problem is alcohol, but secrets come with a toxicity all by their own little selves. It’s a demon fix. Let’s get real. Their lives depend on our getting real. Now, on to fentanyl. More secrets. More Thunderbird. In a field situated near their school. No drug/alcohol treatment. Doctors are complicit, and have addiction issues themselves. At that time, everyone with HIV was using Sustiva which ran fluidly through Wonderland on a dizzy adventure tour involving the community writ large. Horror stories. All the same story. All the same secrets. A Sustiva trip is the equivalent of LSD. Alcohol, Oxy, HIV drugs, violence from dealers, poverty, alcohol, Fentanyl, school failure, suicide. They kill themselves. The end.