"Crack Street Victim Lane" is a series of poems and memoirs about my drug addiction. Crack, Cocaine, Heroin, Alcohol, Street Life, and Prison. The journey begins at age 12 with dropping out of school, roaming the streets, and being committed to and confined to a mental institution for one year, at age 13. The NYS Psychiatric Institute, due to violent behavior. It progresses into street life, crime, marijuana and alcohol.

At age 13 or 14, I am introduced to heroin alcohol and theft. Eventually I become a heroin addict alcoholic, and criminal. On my 16th birthday I wake up in a cell on Rikers Island, the worst jail in NYC. My first time in jail. By the age of 18, I have 36 arrests and I am sentenced to 5 years in maximum security prison for beating someone with a bat as I tried to rob him.(I'm not proud of it. I did 5 years for it. I was punished, I suffered. I lost my teenage years in prison.) Upon my release from Sing Sing Prison in 1983, I return to street life heroin, cocaine and alcohol. One day, I meet Joey.

Joey introduced me to "Crack Cocaine". I become homeless and sleep on the street for two years. I become degraded, experience violence, murder and the impact of drug addiction. Joey was murdered at age 22. Joey always had a smile. His body was found beaten, burned and stuffed into a black garbage bag.

Joey
They found his body in a garbage bag.He played a game, it was not tag.Joey always had a smile.but being sneaky was his style.
What a shame, the way he died, inside my mind, I hear his cries.Because of crack, Joey told you lies, owed people money, Joey died.
This was murder, not a joke.They tortured him, they made him choke.
By Samuel Arcelay

At the time of this writing I am 62 years old. My last experience with drugs and alcohol was on Sept 28, 1988, at 8:30 PM. I was with a drug dealer named Ralph. I have been drug and alcohol free ever since. In 1986 as I slept on the streets of NYC, I had a 5 shot 38 in my pocket, a glass crack pipe, matches, a pen, and paper. I wrote a book of poetry about crack, heroin and the things I saw. I have held on to it dearly. My book, "Crack Street Victim Lane" is my collection of those poems, originally written in that time. My poetry is complimented by personal addiction memoirs. A true story written with graphic content, in explicit detail. I invite you to experience my journey of drugs addiction, street life, prison, pain and survival.