This research studied the function of heroin addiction as a family-learned method of coping with death, separation, and loss across the life cycle. Heroin addicts, psychiatric outpatients, and normal students were given an extensive interview and test battery to determine the incidence of loss of family members and significant others. Because the impact of death is often overcome through religious rituals, this study also investigated the subjects' perception of their families' religious values and orientation to life's meaning and purpose. Results indicate that the incidence of death differs significantly across groups and that addicts have a distinct orientation to death, are more suicidal, and have more premature and bizarre death experiences. During childhood they have more family separations, and they tend to develop a distinct pattern of continuously separating from and returning to their families. They are also less likely to have a clearly defined purpose in life. A subset of parents from each group were also interviewed and tested, and these results support the theory of the intergenerational transmission of behavior.

No abstract

Although many people argue that heroin maintenance is the best solution to minimize the total social costs of heroin use and the enforcement of laws aimed at preventing it, there are serious practical problems in any heroin maintenance scheme. Any scheme that makes it convenient for addicts to get their heroin will make diversion of legally supplied heroin a serious social problem. Similarly, any system which reduces heroin diversion to manageable proportions will prove to be too cumbersome for most addicts. Finally, the cost and other disadvantages of heroin maintenance have been grossly underestimated in the past.

No abstract