The test piece actually was very high quality but at a $150 a gramme he can kiss my arse simply put. He hasnt stopped calling since then and after finding out abput the Cambodian Addiction scene this morning and the astronomical profit made from a $20 to $30 US a gramme being sold to Western tourists at up to $150 per I dont blame him for trying.
This morning I skipped my daily trip to Bayon to be able to appraise the indigenous scene. Yesterday I had a very good meeting with the main Harm Reduction outfit here, Khana, as discussed in an earlier entry. I was saddened to discover that Khana no longer works with IDUs. However it funnels foreign aid to two smaller NGOs and so cadged a referral from Khana's Director, of whom I will discuss more about later.
This morning I took a tuk tuk to the smaller NGO, Khosan. In 2004 American junkie Holly Bradford- an amazing woman now in California- was aghast at the American Returnee scene. After serving prison sentences Cambodian Americans- most refugees from the Khmer Rouge Era- who had never bothered to gain citizenship in the States, were dragged onto planes and summarily dropped off of commercial flights at Phnom Penh's airport.
Cambodia tossed them into gaol without charges unless they could find a local sponsor. Most had no idea where family members lived if they even had survived the Khmer Rouge, an auto-genocide where Communists murdered roughly a third of their countrymen in a decade. Those that did find a sponsor quickly ended up in the street when their sponsors discovered to their dismay that not all Americans were wealthy. Being homeless in a nation where you are despised and treated as a foreigner, let alone being an excon in a society that finds such things abhorrent is beyond terrible. Then, being ripped from your only family in the US and usually being an addict to boot (pun intended), well you can see my point I think.
Holly, extremely intelligent and resillient, founded Khosan. From 2004 onward she dealt with the Returnees and then segued into indigenous addiction services including Needle Exchange. She and her organisation- formerly "hers"- deserve one or two entries of their own and I will get to those. Sufficient for now, I arrived after the tuk tuk driver terrified the NGO by calling for directions twice and saying that an "American" was en route for unknown reasons. Arriving I was ushered into a small office and interviewed the Financial Officer and the Administrator, both ex-addicts., claiming that I was a journalist focusing on Harm Reduction and Drug Geopolitics, both things that are actually partially true though npt as sole pursuits. I then asked for a Ride Along to get an idea of the indigenous scene.
At that point a Returnee arrived, about my age, and mistook me for an Aussie because of my accent. Israelis of my generation were instructed in BBC English (now it is American English), when studying that language. Finding out I was last in NYC we immediately clicked. I will write more about him as well.
He and I went out on a moped, our first stop being Khmer-Russuan Friendship Hospital, site of the nation's only methadone programme. He shocked me when he said that a couple of Westerners were enrolled! I then confessed that I have spent much of the last 25 years on Methadone Maintenance. He asked me how I was sufficing being without it and I explained that I still had 5 bottles of 220mgs each that I was saving while substituting OTC Oxy and DHC. He urged me to enroll! I explained that they wouldnt have my 220.
We took a quick tour where I discovered that for $8 US I can enroll and dose at 220 daily for $1 US per day! I explained that I would soon be travelling a bit but that I had a long term multi-entry visa and am almost certain that I would enroll if and when I returned.
The Returnee then introduced me to a couple of Cambodian enrollees who were lying around on the large veranda of the huge outpatient building which sits to the left of the main carpark. After that it was back aboard the NGO's moped as we went into the inner city not far from my room. I was shocked to be taken into a block long building, 6 floor walkup, with a huge courtyard where an entire neighbourhood had sprung up- with a drug scene that was reminiscent of "New Jack City" but I will get into that in my next entry.
This morning I skipped my daily trip to Bayon to be able to appraise the indigenous scene. Yesterday I had a very good meeting with the main Harm Reduction outfit here, Khana, as discussed in an earlier entry. I was saddened to discover that Khana no longer works with IDUs. However it funnels foreign aid to two smaller NGOs and so cadged a referral from Khana's Director, of whom I will discuss more about later.
This morning I took a tuk tuk to the smaller NGO, Khosan. In 2004 American junkie Holly Bradford- an amazing woman now in California- was aghast at the American Returnee scene. After serving prison sentences Cambodian Americans- most refugees from the Khmer Rouge Era- who had never bothered to gain citizenship in the States, were dragged onto planes and summarily dropped off of commercial flights at Phnom Penh's airport.
Cambodia tossed them into gaol without charges unless they could find a local sponsor. Most had no idea where family members lived if they even had survived the Khmer Rouge, an auto-genocide where Communists murdered roughly a third of their countrymen in a decade. Those that did find a sponsor quickly ended up in the street when their sponsors discovered to their dismay that not all Americans were wealthy. Being homeless in a nation where you are despised and treated as a foreigner, let alone being an excon in a society that finds such things abhorrent is beyond terrible. Then, being ripped from your only family in the US and usually being an addict to boot (pun intended), well you can see my point I think.
Holly, extremely intelligent and resillient, founded Khosan. From 2004 onward she dealt with the Returnees and then segued into indigenous addiction services including Needle Exchange. She and her organisation- formerly "hers"- deserve one or two entries of their own and I will get to those. Sufficient for now, I arrived after the tuk tuk driver terrified the NGO by calling for directions twice and saying that an "American" was en route for unknown reasons. Arriving I was ushered into a small office and interviewed the Financial Officer and the Administrator, both ex-addicts., claiming that I was a journalist focusing on Harm Reduction and Drug Geopolitics, both things that are actually partially true though npt as sole pursuits. I then asked for a Ride Along to get an idea of the indigenous scene.
At that point a Returnee arrived, about my age, and mistook me for an Aussie because of my accent. Israelis of my generation were instructed in BBC English (now it is American English), when studying that language. Finding out I was last in NYC we immediately clicked. I will write more about him as well.
He and I went out on a moped, our first stop being Khmer-Russuan Friendship Hospital, site of the nation's only methadone programme. He shocked me when he said that a couple of Westerners were enrolled! I then confessed that I have spent much of the last 25 years on Methadone Maintenance. He asked me how I was sufficing being without it and I explained that I still had 5 bottles of 220mgs each that I was saving while substituting OTC Oxy and DHC. He urged me to enroll! I explained that they wouldnt have my 220.
We took a quick tour where I discovered that for $8 US I can enroll and dose at 220 daily for $1 US per day! I explained that I would soon be travelling a bit but that I had a long term multi-entry visa and am almost certain that I would enroll if and when I returned.
The Returnee then introduced me to a couple of Cambodian enrollees who were lying around on the large veranda of the huge outpatient building which sits to the left of the main carpark. After that it was back aboard the NGO's moped as we went into the inner city not far from my room. I was shocked to be taken into a block long building, 6 floor walkup, with a huge courtyard where an entire neighbourhood had sprung up- with a drug scene that was reminiscent of "New Jack City" but I will get into that in my next entry.
