TO THE ORIGINAL “JUNK” MANUSCRIPT In this book I have written what I know about junk and the people who use it. The narrative is fiction, but it is based on facts of my experience. When I say junk I mean opium or derivatives of opium; morphine, heroin, pantopon, Dilaudid, codeine are the opium derivatives generally used in the States. I would not write about junk unless I had something special to say on the subject that had not already been said. The action of junk on the user is generically different from the action of any other drug. I think that junk is transitional between living and dead matter, between animal and vegetable life. You cannot avoid the feeling that junk is in some way alive. I can walk around in a strange town and say, “This is a junk neighborhood.” I don’t have to see junkies waiting around for the connection to spot junk territory. When I pass a place where junk has changed hands the junk in my cells ticks like a Geiger counter.
