NCJ Number
159811
Journal
International Journal of the Addictions Volume: 16 Issue: 8 Dated: (1981) Pages: 1305-1325
Date Published
1981
Length
21 pages
Annotation
The notion that drug addicts constitute a homogeneous class has little utility for research on etiology, prevention, and intervention, and a new typology of drug addict careers is developed based on concepts of opportunity and motivation to use drugs.
Abstract
The key question addressed in the new typology involves how much time is occupied by addiction, incarceration, and nonaddiction in the community during the first decade of addiction. The typology was used to study the background and behavior and the addiction careers of male drug addicts in the Baltimore, Maryland, area. Each drug addict was asked to describe the course of his addiction career and lifestyle before addiction, during addiction, and during any abstinence periods. In total, 370 male drug addicts who began their addiction careers between 1937 and 1975 were interviewed and 238 cases were analyzed. The early onset of addiction was associated with more continuous and longer term drug use. Drug addicts who came from lower social classes were criminally deviant prior to addiction and spent more time incarcerated after addiction. Respondents most involved in addiction and who were able to avoid incarceration during the first 10 years of their addiction careers were the least criminally deviant prior to addiction. White respondents who voluntarily curtailed their drug use most successfully were from a relatively higher socioeconomic status and were also the most criminally deviant prior to addiction onset. Those who appeared most in control of their destinies for the first 10 years of addiction, whether by voluntarily abstaining from drugs or by staying heavily involved with drugs but successfully avoiding incarceration, demonstrated the most social competence by maintaining greater preaddiction job stability than their drug addict peers. 24 references, 4 tables, and 2 figures