Jonathan Ng
In February 1965, LIFE magazine published a photo essay that showed heroin addiction in New York City in stark detail. The story focused on two addicts, John and Karen, a young couple living in the city and trapped in daily drug use. Photographer Bill Eppridge followed them for weeks, capturing their routines, their surroundings, and their struggles without filters or poses. The writing by James Mills gave names, faces, and habits to people who were often ignored or written off.
The photographs were not staged. They showed the two buying heroin, injecting it, nodding off, arguing, and wandering the city. Their skin was pale. Their clothes were worn. They were young but looked tired and older than their years. They moved between apartments, shooting galleries, and public spaces. Dealers and other users were part of the backdrop. The pictures were full of used syringes, dirty kitchens, broken furniture, and bathrooms where people shot up.
John and Karen lived in Upper Manhattan, near Broadway and 96th Street. That area, along with parts of Harlem and the Lower East Side, had large numbers of addicts in the 1960s. Heroin was easy to get. It was sold openly in stairwells, alleys, and street corners. A bag cost about $1 to $3, and most users needed several bags a day to keep from getting sick.
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Addiction ruled everything. John stole to support their habit. Karen sometimes worked the streets. They kept their heroin kits in purses and pockets—spoons, lighters, cotton, and needles. Withdrawal symptoms were intense. Shaking, sweating, vomiting, muscle pain. To avoid this, users often did whatever they had to do to get the next dose.
Hospitals treated overdoses daily. Emergency rooms saw users with infected veins, abscesses, and collapsed lungs. Methadone programs were rare at the time. Police often arrested addicts, but jails were overcrowded and had no treatment options. Many users went in and out of prison without getting clean.
The photo essay caused a major reaction. LIFE readers had never seen anything like it. The magazine was a fixture in American homes, and now it showed drug use up close. Parents, lawmakers, and health officials contacted the magazine in shock. Some called the photos too graphic. Others said they were important and honest.
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