Journal of Psychoactive Drugs
ISSN: 0279-1072 (Print) 2159-9777 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/ujpd20
A Heroin Revival in Miami: Notes from a Street Survey James A. Inciardi , Patricia A. Tressell , Anne E. Pottieger & Teri A. Rosales To cite this article: James A. Inciardi , Patricia A. Tressell , Anne E. Pottieger & Teri A. Rosales (1992) A Heroin Revival in Miami: Notes from a Street Survey, Journal of Psychoactive Drugs, 24:1, 57-62, DOI: 10.1080/02791072.1992.10471619 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02791072.1992.10471619
Published online: 20 Jan 2012.
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Date: 13 November 2015, At: 23:02
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A HEROIN REVIVAL IN MIAMI: NOTES FROM A STREET SURVEyt
METHODS A brief survey instrument was constructed and tested . In addition to gathering basic sociodemographic data (gender, age, and race/ethnicity) , the instrument addressed three topics: (1) early and current use of heroin and cocaine; (2) op inions on current availability, cost, and quality of heroin, as well as current crack availability compared to a year ago ; and (3) explanations for the increase if current use of heroin or crack was greater than a year ago . There were two criteria for sample eligibility: age and heroin use. Those interv iewed were current users at least 18 years old. Current heroin use was defined as any usage level by any admini stration route during the 30-day period prior to the interview. Interviewers located heroin users by using standard multiple starting-point "snowball sample" techniques, described in detail elsewhere (Inciardi, Horowitz & Pottiegcr In press; Inciardi 1986, 1979). As required for the successful use of this technique with a highly deviant street population, interviewers were indigenous to the areas in which they were working, familiar with the various local drug scenes, and experienced in talking to drug/crime- invol ved offenders.
James A. Inciardi* Patricia A. TresselI** Anne E. Pottieger** Teri A. Rosales** Characteristic features of the American drug scene dur ing the 1980s included rising rates of cocaine use, the em ergence of the cra ck-cocaine epidemic, and a decline in the availability and usc of heroin in many areas . These trends were clearly reflect ed in data from the Drug Abuse Warning Network (National Institute on Drug Abu se 1990) , the National Narcotics Intelligence Consumers Committee (1989), and the National Institute on Drug Abuse-sponsored surveys of the general household population, high-school seniors, college students, and young adult populations (Community Epidemiology Work Group 1989; John ston, O'Malley & Bachman 1989). At the close of the 1980s and in the opening years of the 1990s, however, media reports began to suggest a resurgence in the use of heroin, fueled pr imarily by crack and cocaine users adding heroin to their drug-taking menu s, increased supplies of high-quality heroin being smuggled from Southeast and Southwest Asia, and Colombia's entry into the heroin production/trafficking industry. (See Drug Enforcement Report February 23,1989, p. 8; Alcoholism and Drug Abuse Week July 19, 1989, p. 7; U.S . News & World Report August 14, 1989, pp. 31-32; Newsweek February 19, 1990, pp. 74, 77; New York Times July 21, 1990, pp . 1,26; New York Times April 28, 1991, p. E4; New York Times, January 14, 1992 , pp. AI , B2.) To ex amine this reported trend, a street survey of current heroin users was initiated in one of the preeminent locales in the United States for cocaine availability, the Miami/Dade County (Florida) metropolitan area .
FINDINGS Sociodemographic Characteristics During August 1991,224 heroin users drawn from five distinct sections of metropolitan Dade County were interviewed. Because the majority of the heroin users and heroin "copping areas" are concentrated in Miami 's Black inner-city neighborhoods, three-fourths of the respondents were Blacks from two of the largest inner-city neighborhoods, Lib erty City and Overtown (see Table 1).1 Table I also indicates that those interviewed were fairly old; 70% were 35 years of age or older. Only one re spondent was age 18; the next oldest was 22 years old . Mean and median age for the sample is 38 . This age distribution resembles that for heroin users in methadone programs (see Hubbard et al. 1989), and is about ten years older than that found in a 1977-78 Miami street study (lnciardi 1979). The gender breakdown in the current study -68% male (N=153), 32% female (N=71) - is also similar to that found in methadone programs and almost identical to gender breakdown in the 1977 -78 Miami survey.?
tThis research was supported by Department of Health and Human Services Grant No. I-ROI -DAO 4862 from the National Institute on Drug Abuse. ·Professor and Director, Center for Drug and Alcohol Stud ies , University of Delaware, 77 East Ma in Street, Newark, Delaware 197162582 . ··Center for Drug and Alcohol Studi es , University of Delaware.
Journal of Psychoactive Drugs
57
Vol. 24(1), Jan-Mar 1992
Inciardi cl al ,
Short Communication
TABLE I RESPONSES OF "MORE" HEROIN OR CRACK USED IN PAST YEAR BY DEMOGRAPHIC Al\'D DR UG USE GRO UPINGS All Respondents (N) % of Total
Downloaded by [Monash University Library] at 23:02 13 November 2015
Grouping
% of Grouping Using More H eroi n Cr a ck
Total Sampl e Male Fem ale
100.0 68.3 3 1.7
(224) (153) (71 )
66.1 63.4 71. 8
9.8 7.2 15.5
Black White Hispan ic Oth er
76 .8 7.4 5.4 0.4
(172 ) (39) (12)
62.8 79.5 75.0
11.6 5.1 0.0
Age:
4.0 25 .9 53.1 17.0
(9 ) (58) (119) (38)
88.9 82.8 58.0 60.5
0.0 8.6 14.3 0.0
Using: Heroin & Powd er Cocaine Hero in onl y Heroin. Powder Cocaine. Crack Hero in & Crack
61.2 25.9 9.4 3.6
(137 ) (58) (21) (8)
63.5 79. 3 57.1 37.5
0.7 0.0 71.4 75.0
Injecting Heroin 4+ Times/d ay Lesser Heroin Involvement
61.6 38.4
(138) (86)
70.3 59.3
5.8 16.3
1st Heroin Injection: Never 1-2 yrs ago 3 -5 yrs ago 6·14 yrs ago 15-24 yrs ago 25-3 7 yrs ago
0.4 2.7 12.5 41.5 40.6 17.9
(I) (6)
83.3 85.7 75.9 52.7 65.0
0.0 7. 1 6.5 14.3 7.5
18-24 25-34 35-44 45-55
(I )
(28) (93 ) (91 ) (411)
TABLE II INITIAL USE OF HEIWIN AND COCAINE
Drug Heroin Any Co caine Crack
Journal ojPsy choactive Drugs
First Use % of Sample Mean Age 100.0 98.2 36.2
58
19.5 18.2 29.4
Start Regu la r Use % of Samp le Mean Age 100.0 88.8 20.1
20 .5 19.4 27.6
Vol. 24(1 ). Jan- Mar 1992
Short Communication
Inciardi ct al.
Figure 1. Heroin injection frequency and dosage (N=224)*
>0
0
15
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~ 10
.El
I '0
~
0 5
E
Downloaded by [Monash University Library] at 23:02 13 November 2015
::::l
Z
0
~ o
&
0
20
10
30
Number of Days Used in Last Month
"Size of bubble indicates number of respondents
been reported in prior street studies of heroin users. Of the 573 Miami heroin users studied at the close of the I970s (lnciardi 1979), for example, only 69 % were using "daily or almost daily." Even greater contrast is provided by a 1980-82 New York City study that found only 70 % of heroin user s using at least three days a week (John son et aI. 1985). Most of the heroin users interviewed (74 %, N=166 ) also reported using some form of cocaine in the prior month . However, only 13% (N=29) used crack-cocaine. Daily injection of cocaine was reported by 41 % of the sample, while 9% used other powder-cocaine every day (pre sumably by snorting), and 8 % used crack daily. Respondents were also asked whether they were using heroin a year ago . Nine respondents (4%), six White men and three White women between the ages of 35 and 43, said no. They had started injecting heroin an average of 20 years ago, and six reported being current daily users . While these nine were not explicitly asked why they were not using heroin a year ago, one can surmise that they were incarcerated or in treatment programs at that time . Table 1show s clearly that this sample of heroin users reported increasing their heroin intake during the previous year, but were less likely to have increased their use of crack.Thus, this strongly drug -involved sample was relatively indifferent to crack, even though it continues to be a major drug of choice in street subcultures. As detailed in Table 1lI, the reported reasons for increases in heroin and crack use vary widely by individual. However, over half of the respondents explaining increases for either drug type cited such personal reasons as "my parents don't
Heroin and Cocaine Use As might be expected from their ages, most rcspondents were long-time heroin users. Mean age at first heroin use was 19.5 years, and first regular heroin use (three or more times a week) began at a mean of 20.5 years. Only three respondents first used heroin by injecting it; but for this sample as a whole, initial regular heroin injection occurred a median of 17 years ago. As Table II indicates, over 98% had also used cocaine, beginning at a mean age of 18.2 years, but only 36% had ever tried crack . The general use pattern appears to have been first powder-cocaine, then heroin, and only then, if at all, crack-cocaine at a mean age of 29.4 years. This paucrn doubtless reflects the mean age of the respondents - 38 is quite old for a street sample - and the fact that crack was not available when these respondents were younger. In the prior month , all but one respondent had used heroin specifically by injection, and 58% of the sample (N=13I) reported injecting both heroin and cocaine during this time. Most respondents (88 %) injected heroin daily (every day in the last 30 days); only 12% used heroin by routes other than injection during this time. Injections of heroin per day varied considerably, but the number showed a positive relationship to number of days of use (rho=.32,p
ISSN: 0279-1072 (Print) 2159-9777 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/ujpd20
A Heroin Revival in Miami: Notes from a Street Survey James A. Inciardi , Patricia A. Tressell , Anne E. Pottieger & Teri A. Rosales To cite this article: James A. Inciardi , Patricia A. Tressell , Anne E. Pottieger & Teri A. Rosales (1992) A Heroin Revival in Miami: Notes from a Street Survey, Journal of Psychoactive Drugs, 24:1, 57-62, DOI: 10.1080/02791072.1992.10471619 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02791072.1992.10471619
Published online: 20 Jan 2012.
Submit your article to this journal
Article views: 7
View related articles
Citing articles: 2 View citing articles
Full Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?journalCode=ujpd20 Download by: [Monash University Library]
Date: 13 November 2015, At: 23:02
Short Communication
Downloaded by [Monash University Library] at 23:02 13 November 2015
A HEROIN REVIVAL IN MIAMI: NOTES FROM A STREET SURVEyt
METHODS A brief survey instrument was constructed and tested . In addition to gathering basic sociodemographic data (gender, age, and race/ethnicity) , the instrument addressed three topics: (1) early and current use of heroin and cocaine; (2) op inions on current availability, cost, and quality of heroin, as well as current crack availability compared to a year ago ; and (3) explanations for the increase if current use of heroin or crack was greater than a year ago . There were two criteria for sample eligibility: age and heroin use. Those interv iewed were current users at least 18 years old. Current heroin use was defined as any usage level by any admini stration route during the 30-day period prior to the interview. Interviewers located heroin users by using standard multiple starting-point "snowball sample" techniques, described in detail elsewhere (Inciardi, Horowitz & Pottiegcr In press; Inciardi 1986, 1979). As required for the successful use of this technique with a highly deviant street population, interviewers were indigenous to the areas in which they were working, familiar with the various local drug scenes, and experienced in talking to drug/crime- invol ved offenders.
James A. Inciardi* Patricia A. TresselI** Anne E. Pottieger** Teri A. Rosales** Characteristic features of the American drug scene dur ing the 1980s included rising rates of cocaine use, the em ergence of the cra ck-cocaine epidemic, and a decline in the availability and usc of heroin in many areas . These trends were clearly reflect ed in data from the Drug Abuse Warning Network (National Institute on Drug Abu se 1990) , the National Narcotics Intelligence Consumers Committee (1989), and the National Institute on Drug Abuse-sponsored surveys of the general household population, high-school seniors, college students, and young adult populations (Community Epidemiology Work Group 1989; John ston, O'Malley & Bachman 1989). At the close of the 1980s and in the opening years of the 1990s, however, media reports began to suggest a resurgence in the use of heroin, fueled pr imarily by crack and cocaine users adding heroin to their drug-taking menu s, increased supplies of high-quality heroin being smuggled from Southeast and Southwest Asia, and Colombia's entry into the heroin production/trafficking industry. (See Drug Enforcement Report February 23,1989, p. 8; Alcoholism and Drug Abuse Week July 19, 1989, p. 7; U.S . News & World Report August 14, 1989, pp. 31-32; Newsweek February 19, 1990, pp. 74, 77; New York Times July 21, 1990, pp . 1,26; New York Times April 28, 1991, p. E4; New York Times, January 14, 1992 , pp. AI , B2.) To ex amine this reported trend, a street survey of current heroin users was initiated in one of the preeminent locales in the United States for cocaine availability, the Miami/Dade County (Florida) metropolitan area .
FINDINGS Sociodemographic Characteristics During August 1991,224 heroin users drawn from five distinct sections of metropolitan Dade County were interviewed. Because the majority of the heroin users and heroin "copping areas" are concentrated in Miami 's Black inner-city neighborhoods, three-fourths of the respondents were Blacks from two of the largest inner-city neighborhoods, Lib erty City and Overtown (see Table 1).1 Table I also indicates that those interviewed were fairly old; 70% were 35 years of age or older. Only one re spondent was age 18; the next oldest was 22 years old . Mean and median age for the sample is 38 . This age distribution resembles that for heroin users in methadone programs (see Hubbard et al. 1989), and is about ten years older than that found in a 1977-78 Miami street study (lnciardi 1979). The gender breakdown in the current study -68% male (N=153), 32% female (N=71) - is also similar to that found in methadone programs and almost identical to gender breakdown in the 1977 -78 Miami survey.?
tThis research was supported by Department of Health and Human Services Grant No. I-ROI -DAO 4862 from the National Institute on Drug Abuse. ·Professor and Director, Center for Drug and Alcohol Stud ies , University of Delaware, 77 East Ma in Street, Newark, Delaware 197162582 . ··Center for Drug and Alcohol Studi es , University of Delaware.
Journal of Psychoactive Drugs
57
Vol. 24(1), Jan-Mar 1992
Inciardi cl al ,
Short Communication
TABLE I RESPONSES OF "MORE" HEROIN OR CRACK USED IN PAST YEAR BY DEMOGRAPHIC Al\'D DR UG USE GRO UPINGS All Respondents (N) % of Total
Downloaded by [Monash University Library] at 23:02 13 November 2015
Grouping
% of Grouping Using More H eroi n Cr a ck
Total Sampl e Male Fem ale
100.0 68.3 3 1.7
(224) (153) (71 )
66.1 63.4 71. 8
9.8 7.2 15.5
Black White Hispan ic Oth er
76 .8 7.4 5.4 0.4
(172 ) (39) (12)
62.8 79.5 75.0
11.6 5.1 0.0
Age:
4.0 25 .9 53.1 17.0
(9 ) (58) (119) (38)
88.9 82.8 58.0 60.5
0.0 8.6 14.3 0.0
Using: Heroin & Powd er Cocaine Hero in onl y Heroin. Powder Cocaine. Crack Hero in & Crack
61.2 25.9 9.4 3.6
(137 ) (58) (21) (8)
63.5 79. 3 57.1 37.5
0.7 0.0 71.4 75.0
Injecting Heroin 4+ Times/d ay Lesser Heroin Involvement
61.6 38.4
(138) (86)
70.3 59.3
5.8 16.3
1st Heroin Injection: Never 1-2 yrs ago 3 -5 yrs ago 6·14 yrs ago 15-24 yrs ago 25-3 7 yrs ago
0.4 2.7 12.5 41.5 40.6 17.9
(I) (6)
83.3 85.7 75.9 52.7 65.0
0.0 7. 1 6.5 14.3 7.5
18-24 25-34 35-44 45-55
(I )
(28) (93 ) (91 ) (411)
TABLE II INITIAL USE OF HEIWIN AND COCAINE
Drug Heroin Any Co caine Crack
Journal ojPsy choactive Drugs
First Use % of Sample Mean Age 100.0 98.2 36.2
58
19.5 18.2 29.4
Start Regu la r Use % of Samp le Mean Age 100.0 88.8 20.1
20 .5 19.4 27.6
Vol. 24(1 ). Jan- Mar 1992
Short Communication
Inciardi ct al.
Figure 1. Heroin injection frequency and dosage (N=224)*
>0
0
15
It!
~ 10
.El
I '0
~
0 5
E
Downloaded by [Monash University Library] at 23:02 13 November 2015
::::l
Z
0
~ o
&
0
20
10
30
Number of Days Used in Last Month
"Size of bubble indicates number of respondents
been reported in prior street studies of heroin users. Of the 573 Miami heroin users studied at the close of the I970s (lnciardi 1979), for example, only 69 % were using "daily or almost daily." Even greater contrast is provided by a 1980-82 New York City study that found only 70 % of heroin user s using at least three days a week (John son et aI. 1985). Most of the heroin users interviewed (74 %, N=166 ) also reported using some form of cocaine in the prior month . However, only 13% (N=29) used crack-cocaine. Daily injection of cocaine was reported by 41 % of the sample, while 9% used other powder-cocaine every day (pre sumably by snorting), and 8 % used crack daily. Respondents were also asked whether they were using heroin a year ago . Nine respondents (4%), six White men and three White women between the ages of 35 and 43, said no. They had started injecting heroin an average of 20 years ago, and six reported being current daily users . While these nine were not explicitly asked why they were not using heroin a year ago, one can surmise that they were incarcerated or in treatment programs at that time . Table 1show s clearly that this sample of heroin users reported increasing their heroin intake during the previous year, but were less likely to have increased their use of crack.Thus, this strongly drug -involved sample was relatively indifferent to crack, even though it continues to be a major drug of choice in street subcultures. As detailed in Table 1lI, the reported reasons for increases in heroin and crack use vary widely by individual. However, over half of the respondents explaining increases for either drug type cited such personal reasons as "my parents don't
Heroin and Cocaine Use As might be expected from their ages, most rcspondents were long-time heroin users. Mean age at first heroin use was 19.5 years, and first regular heroin use (three or more times a week) began at a mean of 20.5 years. Only three respondents first used heroin by injecting it; but for this sample as a whole, initial regular heroin injection occurred a median of 17 years ago. As Table II indicates, over 98% had also used cocaine, beginning at a mean age of 18.2 years, but only 36% had ever tried crack . The general use pattern appears to have been first powder-cocaine, then heroin, and only then, if at all, crack-cocaine at a mean age of 29.4 years. This paucrn doubtless reflects the mean age of the respondents - 38 is quite old for a street sample - and the fact that crack was not available when these respondents were younger. In the prior month , all but one respondent had used heroin specifically by injection, and 58% of the sample (N=13I) reported injecting both heroin and cocaine during this time. Most respondents (88 %) injected heroin daily (every day in the last 30 days); only 12% used heroin by routes other than injection during this time. Injections of heroin per day varied considerably, but the number showed a positive relationship to number of days of use (rho=.32,p
