The Pastoral Clinic: Addiction and Dispossession along the Rio Grande

While visiting rehabilitation support groups for men and women, Garcia asks questions about the nature of family in drug addiction and recovery. She is particularly interested in how drug addiction impacts female relationships and experiences. Because addiction is still associated primarily with men, drug treatment is typically based on men’s needs and experiences. The term “tecato,” a slang term for someone who uses heroin or other hard drugs, is a masculine noun; there is no feminine noun to describe a woman who uses the drug. Garcia uses two stories of mothers and daughters who use heroin together to explore the role of kinship in addiction and treatment. The relationship between drug use and family is intrinsic: “Here the biological family is a primary domain of heroin use, and the circulation of the drug therein is described as maintaining kinship ties, if not affirming them” (112).

Bernadette and her mother Eugenia both use heroin. Bernadette tells Garcia that she was born with heroin scars, meaning that heroin has been a part of her life from a young age. She tells Garcia that she began using the drug with her mother at the age of 16. However, after reading through the pair’s medical records, Garcia believes that they first used heroin together when Bernadette was only 12.