NCJ Number
133991
Date Published
1989
Length
13 pages
Annotation
Focusing on young heroin-users, solvent-users, and their non-using friends, a 2-year field study was conducted from 1984 to 1986 to describe patterns of drug taking in inner north London and to identify subcultural, economic, and personal factors associated with initiation into drug-taking, its continuation, and escalation.
Abstract
Several common threads emerged in interviews with heroin-users and solvent-users: the importance of opportunity, peer-group pressure, and users' emphasis on a "hard man" image. One of the most obvious differences between the users of different drugs is that of age; heroin-users all were older than the glue-users. Heroin-users also had a longer and more varied history of risk-taking and perceived the greater risk associated with using heroin as more appropriate to their self-image. A possible link between family background and pattern of solvent-use exists, but no such pattern emerged with the heroin-users.