Woo’Shiesty

Bob Williams was an educated engineer who said crack felt better than s*x, openly admitted the drug controlled his life, saw a mother leave her baby as collateral for $10 worth of crack, a teenage girl taking turns buying drugs with her father, and a Catholic schoolgirl buying crack still in uniform. He died not long after this interview. In the video below Bob sits down and walks through every detail of his addiction - and nothing he describes sounds like a cautionary tale. It sounds like a confession from someone who already knows he's lost. He said crack hits the lungs and reaches the brain in 5 to 10 seconds. Said cocaine doesn't come close. Said most people who try crack put cocaine down immediately. Said his very first hit was so immense and unlike anything he'd ever had that he just had to try it again. In his first 9 months he burned through $50,000. Entire paychecks gone in a single night. Bank account permanently overdrawn. He'd hit the ATM for the daily maximum, then walk into the bank and cash a check against money they didn't know was already gone. His worst day - $1,300 in 6 hours. He lost a $33,000 job after two weeks. Stopped at the crack house Tuesday morning before work. Missed Tuesday. Missed Wednesday. Showed up Thursday and Friday. The following Monday he said he'd stop for one hit on the way. Didn't get back until Wednesday. Friday was his last day. He had $200 on him during the interview. Said he'd blow it all in about an hour and a half after leaving. He smoked crack in the women's bathroom at Harlem Hospital with his girlfriend who worked there. Said he'd seen transit workers in uniform in crack houses. Security guards. Telephone repairmen with all their equipment still on them. People who drove from New Jersey with their gas tank on empty and couldn't get home. The interviewer asked if crack had made him its punk. He said yes. Without hesitating. Said crack is the boss. Said when you take that hit, a second voice starts talking and you're not yourself anymore. Asked if he knew anyone who used crack and controlled it rather than the other way around. He said no. Not one person. Was Bob Williams a warning nobody listened to, or just the most honest addict who ever sat in front of a camera?