Abstract
Based on participant observation studies of problematic consumers of narcotics in Stockholm, Sweden, this paper presents a life-history model illuminating why the research subjects started using narcotics and continued to do so. The model consists of four stages. The first two are initiated before the individual begins taking drugs, and lead to the development of a drastically negative self-image. The third stage consists of consciously breaching societal norms, thereby provoking responses which confirm and consolidate the negative self-image. In the fourth stage still more drastic deviant behavior and an increasingly negative self-image mutually reinforce each other.
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