Narcotic Addicts in the Mid-1960's

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Abstract
Typical addict patients admitted to the Public Health Service Hospital at Lexington, Kentucky, in the mid-1930''s and mid-1960''s were compared in regard to demographic and other factors. In order to construct a model of the typical patient in the mid-1960''s, a sample of 100 patients admitted in 1964-65 were interviewed by a psychiatrist to obtain demographic data and information on social background, drug use, and medical and psychiatric histories. The tentative results of surveys on relationships between some variables of special interest are reported for their heuristic value. In general, despite a time span of almost 30 years and the classification of patients by a wide variety of different principles, from biologic sex to reasons for starting drug use, addicts were found to be more alike than different. This was especially true in regard to social functioning employment history and time spent in prisons or hospitals. Apparently narcotic addiction and its associated way of life was a great leveler among this group of patients. Yet caution must be exercised in accepting these data. They are based solely on patients'' self-reports in interviews. Cross-checks by other means on the information presented here would be required to strengthen the validity of these findings. Because this is a cross sectional study of drug addiction, the results might be different had a sample been taken of persons hospitalized shortly after they became addicted. Such incidence studies and longitudinal follow-ups are needed to clarify the meaning of many of the findings in a prevalence study such as this.

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