Suchergebnisse

This is a report of an exploratory in-depth study of the social-psychological processes of untreated recovery. Data for the study comes from focused interviews with a sample of 201 ex-addicts (half untreated, half treated) located by means of the snowball referral method. Findings indicate that personal motivations to stop using opiates usually arise out of the lifestyle, police activities and environment of illicit opiate use—out of the "changes" addicts experience trying to maintain expensive habits. Individuals respond differently to such changes. Some sink into profound despair and act when they are forced to. Others weigh the consequence of future opiate use and make rational decisions to change, while still others just drift into something else because their commitment to opiate use and the lifestyle was only tenuous. Once addicts decide to quit, they must leave the scene, break all ties with opiate users and create new interests, new social networks, new social identities. Some persons do this by their own efforts while others use existing institutions. Six patterns of recovery were discerned and it was concluded that the "maturing out" concept is not sufficient to describe all the different variations. In addition to maturation, we found that some addicts become converts to religious, social or communal causes, some retire (give up the drug but maintain the lifestyle). Others use opiates in certain situations and change when the situation changes and some move on to other drugs (usually alcohol).

This is a report of a qualitative study of the perceived risks and criminal justice pressures experienced by middle class cocaine suppliers. In-depth interviews with eighty ex-sellers indicate that most feel that they can avoid arrest by controlling the networks of buyers they sell to and do not believe that the police, police investigations, RICO laws and the activities of the IRS are any real threat. In general, they were much more concerned about informants, disgruntled customers and robberies than the police. Very often the sellers own drug abuse was a regular unanticipated risk that caused them to give up drug sales more than criminal justice pressures.

A potent form of methamphetamine — "ice" — gained national notoriety in 1989. Smoked in a pipe, the high from ice was said to last from four to twenty-four hours, and prolonged use led to paranoid schizophrenia. Its reputed popularity in the state of Hawaii led a host of local, state, and federal officials to issue grave warnings about the threat this drug posed to a nation already weary from the ravages of crack. Although federal officials in early 1990 backed away from this portent of doom, such claims were tenuous at best given a complete lack of evidence. A small sample of eighteen ice users in San Francisco revealed significant impediments to the adoption of this drug there. Variable drug use patterns and user preferences were the two most significant factors inhibiting the widespread acceptance of ice into the San Francisco drug-using scene.

In spite of the fact that chain referral sampling has been widely used in qualitative sociological research, especially in the study of deviant behavior, the problems and techniques involved in its use have not been adequately explained. The procedures of chain referral sampling are not self-evident or obvious. This article attempts to rectify this methodological neglect. The article provides a description and analysis of some of the problems that were encountered and resolved in the course of using the method in a relatively large exploratory study of ex-opiate addicts.

This paper reviews the literature in an area which has received little attention of drug researchers — spontaneous remission. The paper reviews all the research studies that have looked at the phenomena of the "natural" recovery from heroin addiction — natural in the sense that some addicts manage to stop using heroin and not become re-addicted without the help of treatment intervention. Some areas for future research are also suggested.

The research discussed here explores the sexual behavior of two hundred and twenty-eight heavy users of cocaine. Intensive, face-to-face, tape-recorded interviews with each user uncovered some interesting differences in sexuality among various user groups. Far example, male users were found to have greater levels of sexual enhancement from cocaine, than were female users. Another finding was that freebasers and snorters of the drug had similar levels of sexual impairment, while injectors experienced far worse levels of sexual dysfunction. The widespread mythology that cocaine is always a sexual aphrodisiac was certainly not confirmed by this research effort. It was found that there were a myriad of responses to the same dosage level of cocaine, depending, in part, upon the setting of the usage, as well as the background experiences of the user.

To date there is only sketchy information about the needle-sharing practices of IV drug users. This article reviews the existing literature on needle-sharing practices and presents quantitative findings on IV drug use, needle-sharing practices and the utilization of shooting galleries of male sex workers. Self-reports of 178 street hustlers, male prostitutes who sell sexual favors in public places, indicate a high incidence of IV drug use, particularly methamphetamines, cocaine and heroin. They also report considerable syringe sharing, as well and needle sharing in social settings such as shooting galleries, bath houses and sex clubs. Pragmatic issues, such as availability of syringes and convenience, are said to be the principle reasons to share needles. Race and ethnicity were not important factors for this group. It would appear from this preliminary data that a sizeable percentage of street hustlers in San Francisco are at risk to contract the HIV virus because of their needle-sharing practices.