The sample included 116 hospitalized or incarcerated men who received prescriptions for opiates at some time during the 5 years. Drug offenses of the men consisted mainly of unlawful possession of opiates and atempting to obtain drugs using forged prescriptions. Almost all convictions for nondrug offenses were for theft, and few nondrug offenses involved violence against the person. About 36 percent of the men had virtually continuous prescriptions for opiates. Most men had a criminal history, and criminal histories tended to predict subsequent opiate-using status. Many of the men served custodial sentences and/or were admitted as inpatients to psychiatric hospitals, but there was no evidence that such interruptions to their opiate use were associated with not receiving prescriptions for drugs. Men who continually received prescriptions for opiates over the 5-year period were regularly convicted of drug offenses. 19 references and 3 tables