She had no health insurance and the money she was making on the streets by selling her body went towards her heroine addiction. We all make choices in life and one of Melissa’s was to continue with her preferred drug rather than save her own life.
To read “The Last Time I Saw Melissa,” click here.
(Photo from the guardian.com)
Larry Gross Online 
Well written, Larry, but what a sad story.
Drug use there in Covington is so out of hand. I am sorry that your friend got caught up in it.
I have said it before and I will say it again. I am so glad i don’t live in Covington. What a mess that city has become and your column proves that!
Brian, your comments always make me feel warm all over. Kidding, of course.
Melissa’s situation was/is not exclusive to Covington, KY. And I am touched that Larry chose to wrote about her. It may be the only tribute/obituary that this woman will receive.
That’s right. It is true that drug use is all over but it is also true that downtown Covington is known to be especially bad for it. Larry, I feel sad that you lost your friend but take comfort in the fact that you were nice to her and what you wanted in return was only friendship. I hope the city government and the police in Covington can find ways to get this drug problem under control.
Grumpy Larry has a good heart.
Brian, I find your compassion underwhelming and Karen is right. Covington is not an island for drugs. It is everywhere, but let’s not forget that Melissa died from cancer and not from her addiction.
Many people don’t realize how widespread the heroin problem has become. Although I don’t care much for the Enquirer (or, as City Beat labels it “The Ink Wire”), they have covered this huge problem fairly well in the past year. No matter what neighborhood you call home, chances are good that you have more of a heroin problem than you might suspect. It’s eventually going to affect all of us in some way or another, and we’re better off not taking shots at anybody’s locale and paying more attention to it as a general plague. All the police departments can fill you in on what you may not know.
Whenever I think of heroin addiction, I think of Christopher on “The Sopranos.” He wasn’t exactly a nice guy but he wasn’t all bad either and he wasn’t poor and didn’t live in an area or part of town that was easy to put down. That’s the problem I have with Brian’s statement. Blame the problem on the location. Brian, would it surprise you to know that I live in Hyde Park and heroin addiction is here too? I know of at least four cases here. Tuck is right. It IS a plague. Address that issue and not the location of where it is happening.