Excerpt #9: Mother and Valium

     My mother had an unlimited supply of barbiturates (among other things) because of her skill at manipulating staff at the free care clinics where she took my sister. In those days, the 1960's and 70's, the disadvantaged were given just about anything they wanted at those places, just to get rid of them. My mother was able to take advantage of the system and acquire a large inventory of Valium by giving the impression that she was homeless, downtrodden, suffering from extreme anxiety and without financial resources. Having pulled that off, she acquired a rather large following in her neighborhood by handing out Valium as if she were handing out candy. In effect, she was the neighborhood caregiver...or drug pusher. However, there was one slight difference between candy and Valium, and she knew it.