Early Life-Style Differences among Black Male Heroin Addicts and Their Nonaddicted Friends

Abstract

To determine whether early life-style variables (i.e., involvement in illicit drug use and other illegal activities) might be associated with subsequent patterns of heroin use, we conducted personal history interviews with 186 Black male heroin addicts, experimenters, and nonheroin users. Our findings indicate that patterns of heroin use should be viewed within the broader context of involvement in a deviant lifestyle. Addicts and heavy experimenters were more likely than moderate experimenters or nonheroin users to have been heavy users of illicit drugs such as marijuana, barbiturates, amphetamines, and codeine cough syrup and to have been involved in illegal activities such as drug dealing, property offenses, and violent crimes during or after leaving high school.