| 
Downward Spiral In The Life Of A Drug Addict
Mugshots of a young pretty girl Maria Ramos in New York City taken over a 15 year period which shows the harsh effects of drugs abuse. Hopefully life’s roughness as documented visually through these mugshots would deter more young people to say no to drugs.
Related Posts
July 22nd, 2007 at 10:17 pm
Not the first time I see this, but it is shocking every time. What a shame, she was a rather nice looking girl.
July 22nd, 2007 at 10:47 pm
this photo would never stop a prospective drug addict. The reason being is that the drug addict or one who is moving in that direction either don’t care or don’t believe it would happen that way for them. that is why the Say No To drugs campaign was and is ineffectual. The answer has to be focused on why people get loaded, not the end result. The photos are interesting and halting but they will only reaffirm the non addict and do little for the latter. The war on drugs is a lie and a joke. The answer has to be multisystemic and rooted in medical/social interventions. Check out the Swiss drug policy for some better ideas.
July 22nd, 2007 at 10:49 pm
It’s over *15 years* though. Do that with a non-drug addict and the results often aren’t much better (15 years ago I looked good too…). Do that with an addict of one of the state-supported drugs (alcohol, tobacco), and I know that for at least alcohol, the results could well look far worse. Tobacco mightn’t, but how much better would she look if she were buying quality-controlled drugs over the counter instead of black market drugs? Black market stuff is usually lower-quality and may be tainted.
July 22nd, 2007 at 11:24 pm
But, of course, lets remember that this is also after 15 years…. Many people don’t age that nicely. Maybe if this was shown over 2 years? I’ve seen much harsher meth use pictures over much shorter periods of time. This women just looks 15 years older and like she needs more sleep.
July 23rd, 2007 at 12:24 am
to all those who point out that this is over a 15 year period… agreed!
I’d like to point out that these are mug shots… this girl was arrested at least 12 times in that 15 year period… SO… that in and of itself is not too pretty…
But at a drrper level there is a fundamental flaw with using a picture like this to “sare” people into not using drugs, and this flaw does not go unnoticed by those who are at risk of following this woman’s path… A complete avoidance of other things that may have made her look like this::
- jail time… kind of a harsh environment…
- drugs… ok that is the suposed point of this article…
- abusive relationships… they seem to go hand in hand in these cases…
- living conditions… homless after pic 6? (just a guess)
- stress
- nutrition
- heallthcare
the list goes on… but the point is that over a 15 year perion saying that one factor is the cause for why a person looks ugly is just a vast oversimplification that makes the “but that won’t happen to me” rational alot more plausable!
July 23rd, 2007 at 12:30 am
Well I have to go with what the others say on aging alone. Around here, you will see meth heads loose teeth in a very short amount of time. But this woman still has teeth, hair and weight. Could just be she aged badly anyway, and got picked up when she hadn’t slept in days or, was sleeping in the street. Further more I see people age bad all the time in 15 years. Here in the midwest women and men eat horribly, and usually look like Stay Pufft marshmellow figures…I don’t know, these pictures tell me nothing….and I have only done the occasional drug.
July 23rd, 2007 at 2:03 am
I’d hit it.
15 years ago.
July 23rd, 2007 at 5:44 am
[...] Entre la primera y la última imagen hay 15 años, y 12 instantaneas para reflejar una vida en la droga. [...]
July 23rd, 2007 at 6:43 am
[...] Source: http://www.hemmy.net [...]
July 23rd, 2007 at 1:12 pm
14 of the 15 photos seem to be taken within a 6 year period, if I am reading the dates on the NYCPD plates correctly. She seems much better in the last photo which seems to be taken 8 years after the next to the last photo.
July 23rd, 2007 at 3:31 pm
Los efectos de las drogas…
15 años de abusos de drogas reflejados en las fotos policiales. La degradación es perfectamente visible. Aunque si le hubieran hecho lo mismo a Witney Houston el resultado habrÃa sido aún más "jevi"….
July 23rd, 2007 at 8:55 pm
Great article except for one thing:
“Hopefully life’s roughness as documented visually through these mugshots would deter more young people to say no to drugs.”
Deter: v
Definition: check, inhibit from action
Antonyms: encourage, instigate, persuade, promote, put on to, stimulate, support, turn on, urge
August 3rd, 2007 at 4:15 am
good interesting picures. these pictures are giving a clear message as somebody above commented that this will not be effective to who is totally in to drugs. so it would be better if there is a comparison pictures of who does not take drugs and who takes drugs.
December 3rd, 2007 at 9:38 am
I agree that a hardcore addict will stop at nothing to access drugs, especially a drug like heroin. However, to me, the pictures do make a compellling case for the harsh lifestyle and all of the attendant risks that accompany hardcore drug use. Knowing the risks and acting on that knowledge are two different things. I pray for those people who are caught up in the drug use cycle, and am grateful for the ability to make better choices.
January 23rd, 2008 at 12:03 pm
I just want to know what she was going through when she was looking like man with a mullet hairdo????
February 21st, 2008 at 1:21 pm
Are you kidding me!!!! This once pretty girl is a prime example of a “Low life, drug f’d, smackie” who has absolutely stuffed her life. She will be slow as hell from now on. For all you iditos” who say “oh but it was over a 15 year period”., ohhh what a cop out!!! 15 Years ago i took as much pride in my appearance as i do to this day. For all you crack heads, get a life and stop sticking needles in ur eyeballs. You should all be in a grave and all the people in graves should be living their lives. YOU CRACK HORES TAKE YOUR LIFE FOR GRANTED. Fuck off!!! Go prostitute yourselves to get money to snort that shit!!!!
February 29th, 2008 at 4:18 am
It’s a visual time line showing the ravages of drug use.
The addict is interested in getting more drugs not in how they’re taking their toll on their looks.
In response to the previous comment by Jesse: I’m curious where your anger comes from. Your negative views and aggression would/will adversely affect your physical appearance as well.
February 29th, 2008 at 7:10 am
look i’m in recovery now from meth and i only did it for 1 yr. it made me look just as bad. when you on the shit you think that you are the most beautiful person in that world and that everyone is looking at you because you are pretty but really they are looking at you cause you look like a junky
March 7th, 2008 at 12:56 pm
That “Low life, drud f’d smackie” was a little girl once. She was and hopefully still is someones daughter. Look at the first photo and then look at the second from last; is she happy in this vicous cycle?
This is where drugs take you: “the lowest depths of human degradation.”
- President Nixon1971. (email address not mine.)
March 11th, 2008 at 10:08 pm
Actually, look at the dates 83-89 for the first photos, the very last in 97 she had cleaned up alot by then and if you think women age that much in 15 years you may need to get your eyes checked. I’m 32 and i sure as hell don’t look like any of these pics. those are some sad crack smoking lines around her mouth.
March 17th, 2008 at 11:18 pm
I agree with a lot of what Jesse says “get a life etc.” Many Junkies are selfish and are just interested in their own mental health. Sadly western society is very selfish and in this sense encourages people to take drugs. Maybe the law should be a lot more draconian in this area. You can’t bring explosives or detonators into the U.S. Maybe the same rules should be applied to narcotics.
March 17th, 2008 at 11:19 pm
The police have been very sensible making these picture public.
March 18th, 2008 at 7:41 pm
A couple of good saunas to really work those toxins OUT! Lots of Folic acid and food high in anti-toxins apples, fruit ; a diet specifically tailored for each recovering junkie. Maybe a few saunas. Remember to have some water a a couple of hours before your sauna. This could be part of a detox program.
March 18th, 2008 at 9:05 pm
One things for certain; her elemenatry school, her Junior High School and her High School did’nt stop her from taking the above path. They have’nt stopped other people from following destructive paths (John Wayne Gacy, Jeffrey Dahlmer, Those psychos at Columbine, Virginia Tech and that headcase who shot up those Amish kids in Pennsylvania.)
March 18th, 2008 at 9:36 pm
Yusuf Imram says we should have photographs to compare. O.K. But Lets also have photos of people who blow themselves up in their explosive belts and vests. Euro-man would come out pretty favourably in that comparison.
March 19th, 2008 at 3:19 am
Go to the archives at Viceland.com, hit the “Drugs” issue and hit the little box with this photo montage on it and get more information about this girl and drugs in general.
March 19th, 2008 at 3:39 am
In Oct.’94 I started work in a seedy area of Central London near a major Rail Terminal. I noticed a buxom healthy attractive girl about nineteen hanging around outside. Within a couple of weeks she had a black eye. By March ‘95 she looked like a walking corpse riddled with venereal disease that brought her out in grotesque spots. Now? I doubt very much that she’s with us. Crack cocaine was the currency at that time in that place. If only someone had scooped her up and taken her away from her vicous circle of users and bullies.
March 19th, 2008 at 3:47 am
You will do permanent damage to your central nervous system taking drugs. Pushers don’t care what they mix it with.
March 19th, 2008 at 4:58 pm
Her conviction history is going to make it increasingly difficult to obtain legitimate “clean” employment.
March 22nd, 2008 at 1:49 am
The healthiest Athletic person has “residual” toxins in their system ie. toxins that reside permanently. A reformed drug addict will have MORE of these . Get them out with saunas, strenuos exercise that brings you out in a sweat, colonics, fruit, green vegetables and give up those cigarettes and alchohol: you’ve used up all credit now!
March 23rd, 2008 at 7:50 am
I couldn’t understand some parts of this article d Spiral In The Life Of A Drug Addict, but I guess I just need to check some more resources regarding this, because it sounds interesting.
March 27th, 2008 at 8:46 am
no way…that’s John Bon Jovi in picture # 8
March 31st, 2008 at 11:11 pm
Her cunt must STINK now! Another good fanny is lost to society. Would you go down on her for $90.00? No way Jose!!
June 11th, 2008 at 6:03 pm
I actually wonder if the Police Station and the courts are the appropriate place for this girl. She obviously needs some guidance through the maze of modern urban life in New York. A “Guidance Centre” through the maxe of modern western life.
June 19th, 2008 at 7:16 pm
The problem with society is that most people think that throwing a drug addict in prison will sort them out. IT WONT!!!! Most people are stupid and think that they wont get addicted from the first wonderful hit, they try to get that hit over and over again, hence the saying “chasing the dragon” More rehab centres are needed worldwide, drugs are a huge problem in todays society and people can get them just as easy in jail as they can on the streets.
June 26th, 2008 at 1:36 pm
Mystery solved… One sole reporter from overseas published the details of her story. Maria Ramos is 22 in the first picture and dies shortly after the last at the age of 36, succumbing to the effects of heroine. Sad story of a life cut short:
The Sunday Telegraph (Sydney, Australia)
March 12, 2000, Sunday
Descent into hell of a girl on heroin
BYLINE: SARAH CHALMERS
SECTION: FEATURES; Pg. 52
LENGTH: 484 words
AT 22, Maria Ramos should have had her whole life to look forward to.
Slim, with a mane of lustrous dark hair, a perfect complexion, bright eyes and sweet smile, she could have been a model.
Instead she chose heroin — and as this startling sequence of pictures shows, the drug robbed her of her looks and her self-respect. Finally, it took her life.
In the 14 years after the first photograph was taken Maria stopped smiling.
She became sullen and withdrawn, losing all interest in her appearance, with little energy or desire to fight the devastating effects heroin wrought on her body.
First to go was her flawless complexion, then her sparkling gaze, her healthy hair and her slim figure.
By the time the last photograph was taken, when she was 36, she looked more like a bloated hag than a woman in her prime.
Weeks later she was dead.
Now the New York Police Department has compiled the 12 mugshots of Maria into a horrifying montage which starkly illustrates the effects of heroin abuse.
On a visit to the department, Judith Gillespie, head of the Royal Ulster Constabulary drugs squad, was so struck by the montage that she took a copy back to Northern Ireland to use in a hard-hitting anti drugs campaign.
“I brought it home just to remind myself and show others what effect drugs can have,” Detective Superintendent Gillespie said. “From a smiling bright-eyed beautiful girl right through the 12 stages to her death, it is a grim reminder of just what can happen if you take drugs.”
Maria Ramos came to police attention in April 1983 when she was arrested for soliciting in a notorious drug area of Manhattan. It is not known if she was already a drug user.
NYPD spokesman Walter Burns said: “She may have got involved in prostitution to fund her way through college.”
Two years later, in 1985, as the deterioration in her physical appearance shows, she was abusing drugs.
Over the next 12 years her appearance was further ravaged as she was arrested again and again — almost always for prostitution, occasionally for drugs possession — and even served a short prison sentence.
Maria fell into a deadly cycle of prostitution to feed her drug habit.
Detective Burns said: “She was heavily into narcotics.”
Prolonged hard drug abuse diminishes appetite and encourages apathy which in turn leads victims to neglect personal hygiene and appearance.
Paula Woodward, of the Institute for Studies of Drug Dependency, said: “With chronic frequent use, euphoria is replaced by restlessness, hyper-excitability, nausea, vomiting and weight loss. With continued use this may develop into a state of mind similar to paranoid psychosis.”
A clampdown on drug crime has been a major feature of Rudolph Giuliani’s time as New York mayor.
Two years ago police identified 7000 drug dealing points on the city’s streets. Now they say there are virtually none.
July 26th, 2008 at 5:29 pm
“it is not known if she was already a drugs user…”
Those dark patches under her eyes in the first photo suggest she was. Never the less heavy nicotine intake can cause those. You heard it here first all you naughty nicotine fiends!!!!!!
July 29th, 2008 at 7:23 pm
WTF! i cannot believe the lot of you either over-simplifying or intellectualizing/rationalizing what you SEE as a means of dismissing the fact that this woman IS F***D UP! And it isn’t diet, it isn’t weather or free radicals responsible-IT’S DRUGS. And sure it’s slready enough of a challenge for the average person to maintain a “healthy” appearance against the odds offered by other factors, but obviously drugs do not help and exacerbate thier effects on physical, mental, emotional and social health and stability. This is about a person’s life; it’s not about what street drug is worse than the next, it’s not about toxins, lack of sleep,or anything else but the scars of social degredation. “Not known if she is already a drug user”? Oh sure-She just woke up on a park bench one morning and decided “Hey, I’ve got nothing better to do today-I think I’ll just waltz in to the local precint and take a mugshot.” Not only do some of you need to get your heads out of your prissy asses where accountablity is negotiable-You need to get A SHOT OF REAL LIFE AS WELL. Get out of the happy tree-lined suburbs and take walk your through regional ‘ghetto’ and get yourself an education on the broader and mor einclusive aspects of human life that exist and are happening all around you.
August 24th, 2008 at 9:34 pm
Any Prison Doctor will tell you that “cold turkey” is not that dangerous; very few addicts die when going through it. Traditional thinking in the U.K. (and I suspect in America) has always been that Methadone should be prescribed as a “safe alternative” to Heroin.
Well Methadone is even more addictive than Heroin and Prisoners often manipulate their Doctor into giving them more; “It’s not holding me Doc, if I don’t get some more I’m going to start attacking people and you’ll be the one who’s to blame”
August 24th, 2008 at 9:39 pm
I read somewhere that when a person who’s been using Drugs goes through Detox this can be very hamful to the brain.
Can anyone enlighten me on this subject and why it should be the case?
August 24th, 2008 at 9:52 pm
On a more serious note: I get an erection when I look at that first photo.
August 27th, 2008 at 7:52 pm
Thats a nice handfull of titty peeping on picture two; my trousers are getting tighter!!!!!!!!
August 28th, 2008 at 12:28 pm
After reading the article and looking at the dates in the pictures, it occurred to me that what probably accelerated her spiral was AIDS. If you look closely, she appears to become homeless or at least at the beginning of the worst sometime during 85 and 86. Even though I was only a kid at the time, I still remember well how crazy NYC was in the 80s.. Drug users walking around in the streets (I remember when Times Square looked like the walking dead) dirt, grime and death… All we ever knew was that people were dying everyday from some new disease. I feel so bad for her… Makes me wonder what things happened in her life to succumb to drug abuse… However, knowing that this was right at the end of the 70s, this also makes me think about a story my uncle told me. He said that in the 60s and 70s people were doing all sorts of drugs that weren’t that addictive, but then crack came out of nowhere. Many people thought it was innocuous… However, many casual users became victims of crack and heroin. This could be how she became addicted to begin with… she would have been the right age… who knows? if she was a heroine user or a prostitute, it would be amazing if she didn’t contract AIDS in NYC at that time. I just really feel for her.. poor girl.
August 28th, 2008 at 8:18 pm
Your uncles a Prick: people have been doing Heroin (Diamorphine) since the 19th Cent. and they where doing it during the sixties and seventies. Oh yeah Heroins really easy to give up. The female input on this message board sucksssss!!!!!!!
I would have shafted this Ramos girl sideways!
August 28th, 2008 at 8:30 pm
RACHEL STARR FOR PRESIDENT!!!!!!!!!!!
(Brazzer.com)
September 1st, 2008 at 11:57 pm
Its wrong to bring Drugs into a country: they destroy lives. It was wrong to bring explosives into the U.K.: they destroyed lives.
September 2nd, 2008 at 3:56 am
*****In response to Geo******
Are you for or against drugs?
September 2nd, 2008 at 4:28 am
Drugs are terrible; they’ve robbed so many young people of their lives. I’m sure a sensible girl like Rachel Starr would never use them. But why does she do what she does? Displaying her beautiful body to the world? Her bodies a private personal thing not somthing to be degraded. Were her parents too strict? Whats gone wrong?
September 4th, 2008 at 8:44 pm
“lol” Are you laughing out loud at the idea of my “Guidance Centre”?
Many young people are lost and stranded at a critical stage in their lives and need good advice that their parents don’t always give.
You made some good suggestions in your comment and I respect that.
I don’t “laugh out loud” at other commentators on this message board.
September 4th, 2008 at 8:59 pm
I think I know whats gone wrong. Its School. School warps and scars and damages people. It’s a sacred Church that can’t be criticised. Have you never stopped to think that the worst criminals have all received a certain amount of schooling in their lives?
Peoplw who go th prostitutes to be degraded and humiliated - its the nasty cuts and bruises they received on the playground opening up again.
September 4th, 2008 at 9:04 pm
We all have a direct communication channel to U.K. Surfer.
September 4th, 2008 at 9:42 pm
School never saved this poor girl (Maria Ramos). Maybe it even contributed like Brit Boy says above.
September 15th, 2008 at 3:48 am
Hey Atiyana: Can you E-mail me I have a question about the article you posted about Maria Ramos-heroin addict. Thanks Lords106@aol.com
September 20th, 2008 at 6:11 am
My friend is on this downward spiral right now. I don’t know what to do. She has alienated me because I would not believe her lies. She looks like a cross between this girl and Amy Winehouse. It is so sad…
October 13th, 2008 at 3:31 pm
In a situation like yours Maria I would have a quiet word with her parents.If you ask them I’m sure they’ll treat your concern with confidence. I don’t like acting slyly like this but if thats the only option I have done.
October 16th, 2008 at 3:52 pm
If things don’t improve Maria perhaps you might consider finding a more sensible friend who does’nt cause you such misery.
October 20th, 2008 at 5:54 pm
Maria, I think you are actually Rachel Starr are’nt you? On the one hand I think you’re being very brave. On the other hand I think it’s rather sad; as BritBoy said above your bodies a private personal thing and not somthing thats public property. Your hair looks beautiful your face looks beautiful; I can tell your a nice person from the way you behave on camera.
I’m sure your parents are very special people; they must be to have bought someone as wonderful as you into the World.
You make my day.
U.K. Surfer.
October 20th, 2008 at 9:09 pm
Maria, I think your U.S. law enforcment are’nt you?
I was’nt born yesterday.
England is the land of Rutherford, Lister and Darwin
October 25th, 2008 at 5:25 pm
Rachel Starr said somewhere on the Internet she does’nt want children.
That’s the clearsighted no-nonsense response we expect from her.
If she did want children then I’m sure she’d be a good mother: she has that gentle intelligence that a good parent should have.
November 10th, 2008 at 4:29 pm
i she dead?
January 1st, 2009 at 10:44 pm
This is Amy Winehouse’s Mum.
February 20th, 2009 at 6:39 pm
YES DEAD DAMN YOU -DEAD DEAD DEAD!!!!!
February 20th, 2009 at 6:43 pm
How’s Britney Spears these days? Still being dragged away by the ambulance and put in rehab? Has she got her kid back from the child protection agency? That was a really cool haircut she gave herself.
FREAK
February 24th, 2009 at 6:55 pm
Amy Winehouse is not your true BRIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
February 26th, 2009 at 2:27 am
I’m not joking; I would literally give anything to live somewhere else.
February 26th, 2009 at 2:33 am
I’ve been ripped off, deceived and cast aside like a piece of dirt.
I could easily pass for being Jewish with my black hair and pasty face and I’ve still been ripped off, deceived and cast aside like a piece of dirt.
When they know I’m not Jewish I’ve been ripped off, deceived and cast aside like a piece of dirt and they’ll gang up against you when they know your not Jewish.
I close my eyes and wish I was a million miles away.
May 4th, 2009 at 6:40 am
i wish there was a better understanding of drug addiction, so people would realize Jail, pain or even death won’t deter a real addict. They need recovery and to be treated as a sick person, NOT as a morally corrupt person.
June 11th, 2009 at 3:43 am
I hope that some of you like Eurobrowser are crack heads, because if not, your comments make no sense and are totally messed up. This girl was a real person who made bad choices. You have more in common with her than you will ever admit. She had the responsibility to take care of herself but didn’t . Ugly nasty insensitive remarks make you just as unattractive. At least she could blame her messed-up-ness to drugs.
I do agree with some others, that these pictures will not scare kids to use drugs. People look at obese people but are still binging on fast food thinking that THEY will never end up being a 300 pounder. Most of the time we realize too late that we are in that downward spiral.
However if we have a sense of self acceptance and feeling worthy we make different choices.
August 1st, 2009 at 12:16 pm
some of yall are right and some of yall are wrong
coming from someone who has lived that girls life and walked a mile in her shoes
i know her struugles and from an addict stad point the people who say these pictures will help an addict are wrong an addict cant look at somthing and just deside because of a pic there not gona use any more if that was the case i would have more than 6 months clean addiction is an uncureable disease that the only cure is to obstain from all mind altering chemicals the program of narcotics anonymous is a great star it saved my life and could save yours to.
go to / http://www.na.org / to find a meeting near you.
October 27th, 2009 at 12:35 pm
Does anyone know how to get permission to use these photos (for print)?