Iñaki Domínguez Madrid
Madrid
Updated Monday, February 12, 2024-00:01
Life in a narco-floor in Malasaña
Pitis and the underworld of drug towns
Life on the edge of Jaro, an icon of crime
The Bronx of Manoteras
The crazy fauna of Bali Hai, Studio 54 on Gran Vía
Drinks, mafia and death in Costa Polvoranca, the party area in Alcorcón
Heroin is a drug whose intimate
effects
are unknown to most of the public. That is why I interviewed Lolo, a former heroin addict from the 90s who told me about his experience, the routes he had to follow to buy the substance, etc. A purchasing point located in
Malasaña
was the drugstore of a certain
Jamiro
: "It was where one of the
Secrets
died [then his body was transferred to a nearby portal]. He was at
25
Espíritu Santo
Street, I seem to remember. It was an occupied apartment that was Jamiro's house. If it was already impressive to go with the cundas to the villages, that was already... Jamiro was a Moor and you got into the little living room of the apartment through a hole [in the wall]. Jamiro only had a horse. You entered through the door and to the right there was always Jamiro with his acolytes, with his companion, and at the end of the hallway there was a small room that allowed us to smoke. Then there was another aunt, Nieves, who sold coca. She was in an apartment between San Bernardo and Comendadoras. Where Jamiro you shopped, you made
the drop
and you smoked it, in your own home. That was a spectacle. "I once saw
Enrique Urquijo
there sitting with Jamiro."
He continues: "At that time in the 90s, black people were caught on Gran Vía or Santa Isabel Street. They had balls of heroin suspended in their throats and when you asked them, they would regurgitate and several balls of different colors would come out, depending on of what they contained. One could also take a cunda and go to the town. At that time there was La
Celsa
,
Pitis
, to [the area of] Telecinco or to the
Smurfs
... This was a town near La Celsa, a gypsy neighborhood "That was on the Villaverde road. They called him the Smurfs because I think he was like blue. In Jamiro's case he was a more Berber Moor. He had something elegant about him. He wasn't one of these rough Moors, he had a roll."
Lolo never punctured his cigarette, but rather smoked it. Those who smoke do so with silver foil: “Making money and smoking it is not easy at all. Those who know how to smoke very well make a
drop
that lasts a long time and it runs, it runs, it runs, and for those who don't know how, it runs once and they are burned. You put the amount you want on top of the silver, light it underneath and immediately the heroin turns into a drop like candy. Below you move the lighter and you tilt the silver and the drop runs. The drop releases a little smoke, which is what you smoke with another silver turulo.
A heroin addict in Cañada Real, in 2010.Diego Sinova
"Getting into heroin is a very slow process," he tells me. «I tried it when I was young, in an environment that was the opposite of lumpen... Because heroin has been a drug of art gallery owners and diplomats.
It has been a chic drug
, very, very exquisite. I had a friend from my summer adventures and he got hooked... Heroin at first is great. At first you fuck like shit, you have a clean look, it doesn't stop you from doing things... If you stayed first like the guy on the Lavapiés subway stairs, then you wouldn't get hooked... You get hooked because it's a very magical. And the fart sensation disappears. When you eat a
pasti
you love everyone, but you know you're
on
. You know that barrier. But the heroine's taste seems real. There is no such border. The feeling of problems disappearing [under the influence of heroin] is very real. The sensation of pleasure is fully integrated. With heroin you know you're screwed because you have money on the table, but the internal feeling is very special, it's unique. The heroine's start is not bad. There are many couples who get hooked because at first you're crazy [and they both share the experience]. Although heroin is a strong drug, there are those who take it for the first time and take it,
get the hang of it
and say 'never again'. But if it fits you well, if it fits softly, it's something that gets you hooked."
Lifestyle
As Lolo tells me, initially one can consume heroin and maintain an active lifestyle: «I worked at an important television network and at night there was a shift where we were from 12 at night to six in the morning. There we were... I, for example, went into an editing room, there were only the night shift and the security guard and I knew that no one would enter. I always carried a betacam tape with all the nougat on it. And there he smoked.
The complicated thing for consumers was when there was a crisis and the horse was missing throughout the city: “That was terrifying. The crowd was like zombies. "I lived through two of these droughts." Another problem is the monkey: «I never had much of a monkey, but I do remember that he shit like a goat. It affects your digestion. The shit was like pellets. It also affects your sleep. The cocaine monkey is that you can't stop sleeping and the heroin monkey is that you can't sleep. In both cases the monkey is the opposite of the effect of the drug.
Fortunately for him, Lolo quit heroin after getting a job in another city, a circumstance he took advantage of to detoxify. "I was on the verge of it being irreversible and I disengaged." Today, heroin represents for him only a memory of the past. Of course, a memory that can awaken desire: "The drop had a vanilla smell and when I smelled that again through an air freshener this summer, the memory was so brutal that it stirred me inside."
Inaki Dominguez
He is the author of
Macarras interseculares
, edited by Melusina, [you can buy the book here],
Macarrismo
, edited by Akal, [you can buy the book here] and
Macarras ibéricos
, edited by Akal, [you can buy the book here] and the
Latrue story of the Moco Panda
. [you can buy the book here]