Inner-city Community Response to Heroin Use (From Drugs and British Society: Responses to a Social Problem in the Eighties, P 77-100, 1989, Susanne MacGregor, ed. -- See NCJ-124945)

• NCJ Number: 124951
• Author(s): A Burr
• Date Published: 1989
• Length: 24 pages
• Sale Source: Routledge
• Publication Type: Research (Applied/Empirical)
• Language: English
• Country: United Kingdom

Annotation

Information gathered through the standard methodology of social anthropology formed the basis of an analysis of the patterns of heroin use and community responses to them in an inner city area of London, England.

Abstract

Information was gathered formally during 1984 and 1985 and informally until the spring of 1987. The researcher observed and took part informally in local community life, used a snowball technique to observe and discuss drug use with heroin users, and conducted structured interviews with 20 heroin addicts. Findings indicated that extensive heroin use is likely to remain a major problem in the near future because of the role it has come to play in the local youth subculture and the criminality of the local culture that facilitates long-term use. In addition, treatment services have responded to community interests and demands, but it is too early to determine how far the effort to consider chemical dependency more than a medical problem will go. Finally, the degree to which the hospital-based drug treatment units can accommodate community interests and demands will determine their future and that of the medicalization of the drug field.