While it it true that cotton shots or "wash ups","rinses"etc...are not the most hygenic practice in the world,I'm sure that many would agree that shooting any drugs carries a multitude of dangers,especially shooting Dilaudid or other pills can lead to abscess if you miss.And street preperations of heroin are usually packaged under less than sanitary conditions in the first place,not to mention being cut with who knows what.The truth is,no matter how much people don't want to admit it,is that once you start shooting drugs you aren't exactly placing a whole lot of value on your health.I've had cotton shots save my ass more times than I can count.I have had the so called"cotton fever"many times,always from a wash up,but personally found it preferable to being dope sick.In the interest of harm reduction I cannot,in good conscience,reccomend this practice but I had a method that kept me well enough to get through work untill I could score later.What I did was not only leave the cotton damp but would leave a vey small pool of dope in the cooker.My normal shot was 3 and if I put 40 units of water on a 3 cap/bag shot I would draw up maybe 38 units as my shot.Those 2 or 3 units wouldn't make a noticable difference in my shot but once I had saved up 5-10 of them along with 3 or 4 dirty,crusty cookers it would often be better than 1 cap or bag.What I would do is draw up 40 units of water and squirt it into a well used, residue caked cooker and use the rubber stopper from an old set of rigs to clean the residue,mixing it in the water untill completely dissolved and draw it through a small,clean cotton,repeating for each cooker,then take each cotton,placing them one by one into a cooker,squirt the residue infused water onto it,use the old stopper to mash the dry,crusty cotton really good unill I was satisfied I had gotten all the dope residue into the water and draw up.Repeat for each cotton(using the same water of course)untill all have been rinsed.Then,to reduce the risk of a tiny piece of cotton or cut getting into the shot,I would squirt the dope laden water into a clean cooker and refilter with a small,clean cotton and suck it dry.If you can save a head off each cap or tiny bit in the bottom of each bag you use prior to doing your wash up and add those to the rinse it makes it even better.Like I said,I'm not saying anyone else should do this,but when I used to shoot heroin,Dilaudid etc...this very effective method saved me from being sick many times and these washes can get you surprisingly high,especially if you leave a few units from a big shot,even more so if you have the will power to save a little bit from each bag,cap,whatever.I always tried to wait untill I had at least 5 or 6 but a week's worth of cottons and cookers is even better.That's why I usually had 3 or 4 spoons/cookers going at once.I realise this isn't the most sanitary practice in the world but the truth is,any hardcore addict whose ever been desperately ill would probably take the risk and the dope its self probably wasn't cut and prepared under the most sanitary of conditions anyway.In a way,this could be considered a form of harm reduction itsself.I realise that could be seen as stretching it a bit but if it gets you well enough to not go out and steal or do something even stupider then it's a form of harm reduction in my eyes,in that it can at least get your legs under you enough to figure something else out instead of doing something that could land you in jail dope sick or end up desperately trying to shoot or take something even riskier in an effort to not be sick.Just a thought and my 2 cents.Again,in the HR spirit here at BL,I feel my posting of this method comes with the responsibility of reminding those contemplating it of the danger of blood poisoning due to bacterial infection.The re-filtering of the finished product helps reduce the risk of cotton fever.If you choose to iv drugs(not reccomended)then be as safe with it as possible.That includes not shoplifting or commiting additional crimes out of desperation.
