I feel like this is something no one ever talks about. How many people out there know someone who injected drugs and was never the same since? [...] Some people call it a bad shot or hot shot, whatever you want to call it.
There are indeed playground rumours of people being given intentionally toxic or overdosed doses of whatever drug. As to how often it occurs in the real world we all live in, I've never heard of anyone experiencing any such thing.
Who does this to someone? What's happening to cause this? Why isn't someone responsible for the permanent damage they've caused?
The rumor goes that clientele who are rude, or late payers, or whatever reason you want to imagine, are given doses of bleach, acid, etc. to inject.
Most dealers, being rational economic actors, would rather keep their clientele alive, so they can purchase more drugs. There is no incentive to intentionally give a paying customer a toxic shot - first off, you gain a reputation as a Bad Dude who might sell you poison, secondly you're removing a source of income
permanently, thirdly in most jurisdictions people don't exactly turn a blind eye to people dying with a syringe still in their arm (and a toxicology test on the residue ion the syringe would no doubt doom you in court if it had stuff like arsenic or strychnine in it).
(I also would think twice before injecting a syringe of mystery liquid, without any inspection of the contents. You'd need to be pretty desperate to shoot up whatever happened to be loaded in a mystery rig. Actually, the IV users I know are all adamant about preparing their own shots. Maybe for that reason.)
My attitude towards risk - i'd say the onus is on the user of said drugs. As a consumer of psychoactives, you're responsible for knowing what you're taking and how much of it. Stay vigilant, do your due diligence with testing and analysis, and you'll be fine.
All things considered, I would be confident in saying that mistaken overdoses would be far more common than intentional malicious acts. If a dealer wants to be a meany-head then they can cut you off from your supply, they don't need to posion you.
That crazy man talking to the stairs.... He didn't always used to be like that. He used to be normal.
That girl who hears voices and thought you were saying bad things about her, didn't always used to be like that. She used to be normal.
The girl who talks about working with the feds and having broken glass in her head, she used to be normal.
Most of these people didn't suddenly just snap one day. Usually it's a gradual transition from reality, through eccentricity, to insanity.
I feel like there is a silent crime going on here in Laurel County and surrounding counties.
I hate to mention it, but this sounds a bit like the whole "gang stalking" meme, in that it revolves around a core belief that the average Joe is so morally bankrupt, so ethically devoid, so malicious, that they can be convinced/encouraged to just basically be a visible nuisance, to the exclusion of other activities you'd expect (hobbies, gorcery shopping, education, employment, socializing). Even more ridiculous is the idea that these agents provocateur are paid by the government to do so. How come I never see any job listings that read "Let all the air out of Bill X's tires every Tuesday morning, and leave a flaming bag of dogshit on the front porch every Saturday"?
There's a saying I picked up called Jick's law. It reads:
In the real world, it's possible to randomly punch strangers in the stomach. What stops us from doing this? The fact that we're not assholes, that's what. 
