NARCOTISM: DIMENSIONS OF THE PROBLEM

Abstract

It is evident that the indirect indicators that are used to provide some estimate of heroin use trends are susceptible to distortion by variables having little to do with total heroin use. A panel of indicators, employed together, moving in the same direction, are seen as the best information available, and confidence can be placed in their implications. We have witnessed a rapid increase in the use of heroin in the decade that began in 1960. From 1970 to 1973 a decrease occurred followed by an increase in prevalence that lasted about two years. Since 1975 there appears to have been a levelling off or even a slight decrease in heroin use with a shift of higher use patterns to the West Coast. These changes are the result of many factors on both the demand and the supply sides of the equation. There is reason to believe that the curve could slope sharply upward again if substantial efforts are not made to control the quantity of available heroin, to prevent the recruitment of new users and to treat those now overinvolved with the drug. However, heroin prevalence rates will not recede to the pre-1960 level in the foreseeable future, and immediate goals include lowering them even more.