Two Patterns of Narcotic Drug Addiction in the United States

Abstract

Evidence from the present study and a review of the literature support the thesis that two quite distinct patterns of narcotic drug addiction exist in the United States at the present time. One addiction pattern is followed by young heroin users who come predominantly from metropolitan centers and are engaged in illegal endeavors. The other pattern is typified by the middle-aged southern white who uses morphine or paregoric and obtains his drugs through legal or quasi-legal means. The heroin pattern of addiction has increased markedly since World War II and is currently associated with minority group status. The second type of addiction preceded the passage of the Harrison Act in 1914, and has, in the subsequent years, decreased materially. The medical records of 3301 addict patients discharged from the U.S. Public Health Service Hospitals at Lexington, Kentucky, and Fort Worth, Texas, during the 1962 fiscal year were analyzed with a view toward delineating these two patterns of drug addiction. A part of the study consists of a comparison of this 1962 population with the hospital population in 1937.