The Changing Face of Heroin Addiction in the Haight-Ashbury

Abstract

1970 is now known as the year of the emergence of the “middle-class junkie” (young, white, with a short-term habit). At the Haight-Ashbury Medical Clinic (in the traditional center of the “drug scene”), we have seen and treated over 1,000 drug addicts (predominantly heroin addicts) since 1969. On reviewing 773 of these cases, three distinct groups were found: The “new junkie” who has lately gone to heroin as his drug of choice; the “transition junkie,” who was first a “flower-child” and “mind-expander,” and later changed to heroin after multiple-drug experimentation; and the “old style junkie” who fits the traditional picture of being ghetto-bred, and who has a long-term, heavy habit. These subsegments of our patient population are examined in terms of prior drug use and patterns of drug use as well as race, sex, family status, etc.

Drug patterns have, in the past, begun in the Haight-Ashbury and other drug abuse centers, and then have spread outward in a “ripple” effect to involve the rest of the country. It appears that the pattern of rapidly increasing heroin addiction will follow this pattern also, and it is hoped that this classification will serve as a useful guide to the types of addicts being seen and eventually as a criterion for treatment modalities.