Heroin in the Age of Crack-Cocaine (Drugs, Health, and Social Policy)

In a state-of-the-art presentation, Heroin in the Age of Crack-Cocaine presents articles by experts in the field on current developments and emerging trends in addition to a historical overview of heroin use in this country. Filling a void in the literature on what's known about the "new" heroin users, this volume, edited by James A. Inciardi and Lana D. Harrison, also updates the readers on the status of aging heroin addicted populations who initiated use of the drug prior to the "age of cocaine." Having moved from the stereotypical "shooting galleries" of back alleys in inner city neighborhoods, heroin addiction continues to rise in mainstream culture and new ways of administration have come into use. Arelative abundance of purer Southeast Asian heroin, the rapid rise in popularity of crack-cocaine, treatment controversies, and the realized role that injection drug use plays in the transmission of HIV all suggest increased dimensions of the heroin problem and in their saliency for the 1990s and beyond.