Carp - Visual Histories

"Carp"

A day in the life of Robert Carpenter, a 32 year-old heroin addict on the streets of Rochester, New York.

Carp became addicted to heroin when his prescription for opiate painkillers was not renewed. At $8 a bag, he injects himself with heroin multiple times each day, often in the morning to clear himself and at night before going to sleep. His addiction has led him to both inpatient and outpatient rehab clinics and multiple arrests for crimes committed to support his habit. Carp also uses illicit medications to get high. Prescription drugs were linked to an estimated 37,485 deaths in the United States in 2009, which exceeded the number of automobile accident fatalities by more than 1,200. Even fewer - 31,336 people - died in gun-related incidents that same year, of which roughly one third were suicides. The CDC named prescription drugs as a national epidemic in November of 2011.

Rob Carpenter checks his needle before shooting-up off of Clinton Avenue in Northeast Rochester, NY on March 3rd, 2012.

A motorist on Chestnut St., Rochester, NY, hands Carp a bottle of diet Coca-Cola, February 27, 2012.

Carp helps a man push his power scooter through the slush of Clinton Avenue in Northeast Rochester, NY, February 27,2012. "I did that because it made me feel good," he says.

Carp laughs with his friend, Allen Hassett about a dollar that Carp was givenby a U.S. Federal Marshal while he was pan-handling earlier in the morningalong Chestnut St. in Downtown Rochester, NY, February 27, 2012.

Carp tries to help a latino user inject a mixture of two bags of heroin into his Carotid Artery off of Clinton Avenue, February 27, 2012.

Carp walks underneath the railroad tracks that separate Downtown Rochester from the Northeast area of the city on his way to make more money pan-handling, February 27, 2012.

Rob Carpenter, 32, counts his bags of heroin in a doorway in downtown Rochester, March 3rd, 2012.

Rob Carpenter lays on the floor infront of the Amtrak ticket counter in Downtown Rochester, NY after passing out an overdose on heroin and illicit prescription medications, March 1st, 2012.

Carp stands with a scrounged cigarette butt in his lips, barely coherent, as police officers search his belongings to determine what substances may be in his system, March 1st, 2012.

A member of the Rochester Police Department holds Robert Carpenter'smedical sharps container while he is being processed by EMT's for transport toRochester General Hospital, March 1st, 2012.

Rob Carpenter yells outside his friend, Allen Hassett's apartment off ofCulver and Parsells in Rochester, New York on March 4th, 2012. Carpenter is ahomeless addict who often sleeps on Hassett's couch when he is not in jail orthe hospital.