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Died in Haight-Ashbury of a heroin overdose

Kirsten

New Member
hi everybody. I do not have an especially pleasant past life memory. I believe I died in late 1964 or early 1965 when a person I trusted, someone who I thought was my boyfriend but in reality was a pimp, introduced me to heroin for the first and last time. I remember dying very clearly; I was able to corroborate the symptoms I remember of a heroin overdose, and they corresponded precisely to what I experienced then and for many years continued to experience, manifesting as panic attacks at night. My name was Mary, but I do not remember my last name. I was an orphan in some Catholic orphanage, a drug addict and sadly, I was often prostituted. The memories were with me my entire life, especially the memories of what it felt like to take psychedelic drugs, which no child of four or five should know. Mary's sad story followed me for my entire life, but it wasn't until last year that I remembered how I died at 14 or 15. I still struggle with the sadness of her life, and I still have questions about her historical identity. Does anyone know in 1963 or 1964 San Francisco, was there a hippie scene, a drug scene, or heroin users at that time? It seems too early, but since I was born in 1965, Mary's life had to end before I was born. I have tried to do some research, but I cannot figure out if there were street kids addicted to drugs as early as 1963 or 1964 in the Haight-Ashbury district. Even though I was supposed to be at the orphanage, I spent most of my time asleep in parks and crashing in peoples' rooms. Anyway, if anybody has any information about this time and that place, or any orphanages around that area, I would so greatly appreciate knowing about it.
 
Hi Kirsten,

Welcome to the forum.
Did you look up orphanages in San Francisco? I don't know if there were many of them in 1964. If you've got addresses you can use Google maps to find out of some neighborhoods feel familiar to your memories. It was a sad life for such a young girl.
 
Welcome to the forum, Kirsten.

What a sad life you had.

Found this article about the history of drug abuse in the US: https://casapalmera.com/blog/the-history-of-illegal-drugs-in-america/
Looks like there were many heroin addicts much earlier than most people would think.
Hope you will be able to find out what you need and get over these horrible memories.

Edit: The Hippie scene came later, but there was the "Beatnik" scene or "Beat generation" who also experimented with drugs.
 
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