Face Of An Addict "Bishop"

Mr. Bishop: Hunts Point, Bronx
Chris Bishop was drinking in front of a liquor store when we met. A resident in the local homeless shelter he told me the following.

At the age of thirteen, Chris killed his father, stabbing him with a knife after a childhood of abuse. He spent the next 18 years in correctional facilities. "When he was drunk and mad he would hold me out the apartment window and threaten to drop me to the street, eight floors below. He beat me and my mother all the time. I have been drinking ever since. To forget."

When I asked how he wanted to be described, his eyes teared up and he said "I am human, like everyone else."

Face Of An Addict "Nelson"

Nelson: Hunts Point, Bronx
Nelson was hanging out with Manny and others from the homeless shelter when I met him.

Nelson, who grew up in the Bronx, has been battling alcoholism since a teenager. He took a big swig from the brown paper bag and said "See, I can't stop!" then proceeded to tell me how he lost his job, his home, his family. Unrepentant, he claimed to have found peace with the bottle.

Face Of An Addict "Clarence"

Clarence: Hunts Point, Bronx
The "Junkyard" is a vacant lot on an otherwise industrial side street in Hunts Point. It's where many of the local addicts spend their time, gossiping and smoking. They bring their carts filled with what they can collect to sell to the adjacent scrap metal shops.

It's where I found Clarence, who has lived for forty years in Hunts Point since moving from North Carolina as a teenager.

I spoke with Clarence, a former truck driver, for a long time. He told me all that his addiction has wrought: job loss, homelessness, health problems. Never once did he sound angry, bitter, or depressed.

Face Of An Addict "Vanessa"

Vanessa: Hunts Point, Bronx
Vanessa, thirty-five, had three children with an abusive husband. She "lost her mind, started doing heroin," after losing the children, who were taken away and given to her mother. The drugs led to homelessness and prostitution. She grew up on Arthur Avenue in the Bronx, but now spends her time in Hunts Point, "trying to survive everyday. Just doing whatever it takes.

Face Of An Addict "Sonia"

Sonia: Hunts Point, Bronx
Sonia, 46 years old and the mother of five, is a crack addict who "sells her body for drugs." Smart, polite, and well-spoken she told me and my friend Nina of her life-long battle with her addiction. She started when she was 22, an overwhelmed single mother of three children working two jobs. She got into prostitution, becoming "a five dollar wh**e," trading sex for drugs with neighborhood dealers.

When we asked her how much money she needs a day for the drugs she said "as much as I can. I can't stop. I get some money, go and buy it, smoke crack, relax for 30 minutes. I have to get some more. It's non-stop. Until I keep walking back and forth and nothing nothing nothing gives, that's when I will say, 'God says go home.'" She has a "significant other," a wonderful man who's been with her for 17 years. He does not drink, smoke, or do any drugs. Other faces of addiction below