William Burroughs is one of my favorite writers, but outside of a hospital I would never take opiates or heroin. The rise in heroin deaths and usage correlates with the war in Afghanistan when opium went from record lows to record highs. Apparently opium fields were being protected and lo and behold America suddenly had a new wave of heroin addiction. There are also huge problems with legal opiate addiction because the US is the most prescribed nation in the world by a long margin. A lot of money in addiction.