Editor: After being expelled from university residence following his drug arrest, Reggie moved illegally into a residence room shared by two friends. It was there, according to Reggie, that he tried heroin for the first time.

I moved in (illegally) with a couple of friends who shared a room in residence. This was where I first tried heroin.

One of the guys was from Hong Kong and every month he would get his friend to mail him a few grams. I snorted a big line of it one night and I got really sick.

I remember standing up and it seemed like the walls took off in different directions. I fell down and crawled to the toilet and puked over and over again. I looked in the mirror and my skin was almost blue. I felt terrible but I wanted to try it again.

A Significant Moment in Reggie’s Story

Reggie had told me that he had tried Heroin, and that he was getting it from his Hong Kong friend, who was the son of a diplomat. He told me that they were able to bring the Heroin in without risk of being caught, as the drug was inside diplomatic pouches, which are generally not inspected by Canadian Customs, at least back in that period.

I was surprised to find this writing of his first time trying Heroin, to me this is a pretty significant passage, as it is a clear milestone and turning point in his life. What is striking in hindsight is his final sentence. He describes becoming extremely sick—so sick that he remembered his skin appearing almost blue—yet finishes simply:

“I felt terrible but I wanted to try it again.”

Heroin did not immediately become a regular part of Reggie’s life. His own timeline places the development of his heroin use and his first experience with withdrawal much later, in the 1990s. Nevertheless, this was his first recorded encounter with a drug that would eventually play a major role in his addiction.

What Might the Heroin Have Looked Like?

Reggie did not describe the appearance of the heroin he was given, so we cannot know its color, texture, purity or where it had originally been produced. His reference to his roommate being from Hong Kong and receiving heroin from a friend does not establish where the drug itself originated.

Heroin can vary considerably in appearance. Depending on how it is produced, refined and subsequently handled, it may appear as an off-white, beige, tan or brown powder, while some forms are much darker.

Historically, heroin associated with different producing regions has sometimes developed recognizable descriptions. Heroin originating in parts of Southeast Asia has appeared in forms ranging from pale or whitish powder to beige and brown material. Heroin originating in Afghanistan and surrounding regions has likewise appeared in different shades, including brown powders. Heroin historically associated with Mexico has included brown powder as well as the dark, sticky form commonly known as “black tar” heroin.

AI-generated recreation of light-brown powdered heroin for illustrative purposes. This is not a photograph of the heroin Reggie encountered. Heroin can vary considerably in color and appearance, and appearance alone cannot establish its geographic origin or contents.

These descriptions should not be treated as a method of identifying heroin. Color and texture can be affected by production methods, impurities, substances added later and handling. Appearance alone cannot reliably establish where heroin came from or what it contains.

Looking Back

This episode occurred more than a decade before the period in which heroin became a serious problem in Reggie’s life. That distinction matters. It would be misleading to suggest that Reggie’s later heroin addiction began with this single experience in 1982.

What the passage does give us is something much more valuable: Reggie’s own recollection of his first encounter with heroin. He remembered becoming violently ill. He remembered collapsing, vomiting and looking in the mirror and thinking his skin was almost blue.

And he remembered something else: “I felt terrible, but I wanted to try it again.”