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three viewpoints. The first and most
important is an addict's family back–
ground.
Cause One: Poor Family
Environment
Heroin addiction, Jike many other so·
cial problems, finds deep roots in our
highly unstable
families.
One author writes that "Sensible up·
bringing may do more than anything
else to reduce susceptibility [to drugs]."
The same author defines the addict's
family as having "a consistently high
rate of matrimonial difficulties, broken
homes, delinquency, criminality, and al–
coholism ... want of an adequate father
[and] overdependent on mother"
(George Birdwood,
The lY/ i//ing Vic–
tim: A Parent's Grlide to Dmg Ab11se,
p.
;:3).
In one massive study, thousands of
addict homes were examined, yet not
one exception to the "unstable family
theory" of drug addiction was noted. In
studying 2,950 male addicts, ages 16-
20, in three boroughs of New York
City
over a five-year period, Dr. Isidor
Chein and associates hoped
to
do sorne
special studies of "deviant cases." That
is, Dr. Chein wanted to find addicts
coming from psychologically healthy
homes. He also wanted to study
non·
delinquent, non-users coming from
homes with unhealthy psychological
dimates.
Dr.
Chein says, "We were
frmtrated became we did not find s11ch
cases:
on scales of psychological
adequacy of the homes, there was vir·
tually no overlap between the two dis·
tributions" (Chein, Gerard, Lee, and
Rosenfeld,
The Road to H: Narcotics
Delinq11ency, and Social PoliC)',
p.
155). Addicts simply did not come
from happy, well balanced homes.
One large New York City hospital
study found that 60 percent of the ado–
lescent addicts had
no father in the
home.
In over half of these cases, the
father Jeft home before the boy reached
age 11. The average potential addict
then became mother-dependent, while
the mother became son-dependent, both
psychologically starved for the mascu·
line father figure.
ls simply "re-unit:ing'' such families
enough to create a home environment
conducive to sound mental growth?
Successful drug clinics say "No."
"Re-uniting the family" is
no/
the solu·
tion for most drug addicts - unless
parents are willing to
change
their own
attüudes drastically. At one successful
drug center, parents are even prohibited
from seeing the recovering addicts for
the first 30 to 60 days, since the parents
helped create the psychological climate
which started the addict on drugs. In
most cases, the addict must find a
new
substitute peer-group "family," one that
is a hundredfold Jarger in size, and one
that will
help
him.
Parental example of drug use is
another major causal factor for youth
adruction which can be traced back to
the family. A Canadian study (dupli–
cated in California and New Jersey)
showed that youngsters were
six times
more likely to become heroin users if
their parents took common household
drugs such as tranquilizers! Whether
the cause is the
physical
example of
popping pills or the transferred psy·
chological attitudes is irrelevant. The
weakness of the parent ( either physical,
mental or both) was passed to the
chi ld.
But, as important as family example
is in causing drug use, there are other
causes of drug addiction which are usu–
ally present in the background of an
addict.
Cause Two: The Street Scene
A sound, loving family unit can
virtually prevent drug addiction in
children, but an unstable home and
farnily - in a drug environment -
can be a virtual stepping stone to drug
use. As Dr. Chein explains, "It takes
more than a fertile soil to grow a crop;
one needs
seed
as well. In the case of
narcotics, one needs access ( which is]
easiest
in
the large cities" (Chein,
The
Road to H,
p.
56).
Most Middle Americans, Europeans,
Canadians, or Australians can't imagine
what the
street
life in a modero Ameri–
can slum is actually like. The Ghetto is
the epítome of all that offends our sensi–
bilities. It is the arena of the 15-year–
old pregnant girl; the 16-year-old drug
addict; the knifing on the other gang's
turf; the urine in the elevator.
On the ghetto street, one obvious
hero of the impressionable youngster is
the nattily attired, affiuent
drug pruhu
(or pimp or racketeer) driving his late·
model Cadillac. There is a climate of
tota l permissiveness and despair as
well. The cult is "get what you can,"
the drugs are the sacraments, and the
pusher is high priest.
In addition, many of the slum child's
older buddies have sniffed or "popped"
heroin. Pressure toward drugs is ever·
present. Schools tuco out
to
be no more
than drug primers for the uninitiated -
a constant battle between drug-supply·
ing "friends" and watchdog teachers
who have little time left
to
teach.
Former addicts admit that the social
pressure
to
shoot heroin is so strong on
these streets that even the strongest
can't take it!
If
the ex-addict wants to
stay off drugs, he had better never
return
to
the "old haunts." As one said,
"l
ca11't control myself
in New York.
The
City
is too much for me."
The second cause of drug addiction,
then, is the
street society.
The obvious
solution is a
new
society in which the
family is strong, the ghetto has dis·
appeared and no heroin supply is
available. Of course,
the
addict cannot
wait for man to bring about such a soci–
ety tomorrow. The addict seeking solu·
tions
110111
must make bjs own new
"mini-society."
The thjrd cause of heroin addiction is
tied closely
to
the lirst two. But the ad·
dict must face it separately and squarely
if he hopes to shake heroin's hold on
him. This involves personal character.
Cause Three: Character
Training
Successful ex-addicts are very self·
critica! people. They will talk volubly