Results proved favourable in the above three parameters compared with other long-term studies.

No abstract

This study concerns a two-year follow-up of all the male alcoholics discharged from the Alcoholic Unit at Warlingham Park Hospital between January 1960 and October 1961.

Heroin abuse has been an increasing cause for concern over the past three years. Home Office figures for 1966 and 1967 (personal communication) show that not only has the number of known cases risen but that the characteristics of the population affected have changed. Up to 1964 the majority of subjects were over 30 years old and were either " therapeutic " or belonged to the medical or allied professions. Those (Registrar General, 1966). The study covers both sexes in the age groups 15-20. Aims and AntecedentsOur aims were: (1) to discover if there was an undetected pool of heroin users in the community, and (2) (1) Probation Service.-The local probation officers were asked to give us the names, addresses, and any information they could provide about anyone known to them who was using drugs. They continued to keep us informed about anyone under their care who admitted to them that they were taking heroin.(2) Police.-A similar approach was made to the police, who also co-operated throughout the study by supplying data on people who were convicted for possessing heroin, were searched on suspicion of possessing or being under the effects of heroin, or were known to them as being often seen in the company of known heroin users.(3) Patients (Heroin Users).-In telling us how they came to take heroin our patients sometimes disclosed the names of others who were in the same predicament as themselves. As treatment progressed and their confidence was gained, they spoke freely, and we realized that we had here a rich source of information. Somewhat sceptically at first, but with increasing certainty as these names were confirmed from other sources-for example, by being referred for treatment-we recorded whatever they told us about these people. Usually we were able to record the age, address, school, etc., of all those who were named by our patients as heroin users.

The subjects of this study were eighty misusers of heroin who lived in the New Town of Crawley, West Sussex. The relationship between their criminal histories and their histories of drug misuse were examined. It was found that more of the heroin misusers than would be expected had been convicted of criminal offenses before they began to misuse drugs, while the reduction or cessation of heroin use during a four-year follow-up period was accompanied by a reduction in convictions. Some social characteristics of the male heroin misusers were compared with those of two other Crawley groups--a group of juvenile offenders who did not misuse heroin and their control group of non-delinquents. Characteristics commonly associated with maladjustment did not distinguish the heroin misusers from the juvenile offenders, nor were they found to be associated with the continued use of heroin. Analysis of the data in epidemiological terms suggested that among the necessary conditions for an outbreak of drug misuse in a particular community the availability of drugs together with socializing drug users were more important than the presence of predisposed individuals.