The Street Addict Role

<p>This book provides a new answer to the question Why do people use heroin and other street drugs? Drawing upon a growing body of studies of drug users conducted by sociologists and anthropologists it attempts to integrate their findings into a theoretically unified sociocultural explanation of heroin use. The theory which draws heavily upon the insights of symbolic interactionist and role theory posits that there is a street subculture of heroin users. The chief role in this subculture - the street addict role - becomes a blueprint for living for many heroin users. Addicts are heavily committed to this role and organize their behavior and self-identification around it. From this basic starting point the theory explains how persons become and remain addicts and how they may eventually give up addictive behavior.</p>