Preliminary data are reported on 10 former heroin addicts who have maintained long-term occasional patterns of heroin use. Emphasis is placed on the degree of their past addiction and present control. The implications of the existence of such users for etiological theories, treatment, and further research are discussed.Two of the most pervasive beliefs surrounding heroin are (1) that its continued use inexorably leads to dysfunctional addiction, and (2) that recovery from addiction requires life-long abstinence from illicit heroin use. In earlier papers we reported findings from ongoing research on the controlled nonmedical use of illicit drugs which contradict the first belief (e.g.,
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