NCJ Number
154186
Date Published
1994
Length
17 pages
Annotation
Based on ethnographic interviews, targeted on treatment professionals and heroin addicts close to the current street scene in Baltimore, Md., this study examined recent trends in heroin use in that city.
Abstract
Interviews were conducted with medical, treatment, and law enforcement professionals, together with heroin addicts who had recently entered treatment. The professionals, because they were situated near but not in the Baltimore drug scene, were in a position to make long-term observations about what was going on. Five "professional" interviews were conducted with six individuals from east and west Baltimore. Five additional interviews were conducted with heroin users. The interviews revealed a drug scene of relatively abundant, low-cost, high-quality, readily available heroin. For users, this has reduced the hassles of the heroin-using life; the researchers call this the "hog heaven" model. The study identified two interrelated explanations for the change. From the user's perspective, the study found that heavy cocaine use, whether injected, snorted, or smoked as crack, contained within it an instrumental tendency to use heroin. Also, the global drug business is now shifting toward heroin, both in production and distribution. These two factors outline a historical process that might explain how one particular drug trend leads to another. Two reasons were identified for why the standard epidemiological indicators have not increased dramatically. First, institutional policies pertinent to drug use have shifted away from providing resources for drug treatment. If true, the shift would in itself produce a decline in indicator numbers. Second, the study found that most indicators are obtained in worst-case institutional settings, settings that users seek out as a last resort when their situation turns desperate; the "hog heaven" situation in Baltimore is less likely to make addict's desperate. In a cautionary comment, the researchers note that epidemiological data obtained after the study show a continuing growth in the indicators. Also the addict sample was not representative of the general heroin-using population. The authors view this study as the basis for hypotheses to be tested in subsequent studies.