Creating the American Junkie: Addiction Research in the Classic Era of Narcotic Control

289 Pages·2002·0.72 MB·English

by  Caroline Jean Acker

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Creating the
American Junkie

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Creating the
American Junkie
Addiction Research in the
Classic Era of Narcotic Control
Caroline Jean Acker
The Johns Hopkins University Press
Baltimore & London
©2002The Johns Hopkins University Press
All rights reserved. Published 2002
Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper
9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
An earlier version of chapter 3appeared as “Addiction and the Laboratory” in Isis.Used
by permission of the University of Chicago ©1995by the History of Science Society. All
rights reserved.
The Johns Hopkins University Press
2715North Charles Street
Baltimore, Maryland 21218-4363
www.press.jhu.edu
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Acker, Caroline Jean, 1947–
Creating the American junkie : addiction research in the classic era of
narcotic control / Caroline Jean Acker.
p. ; cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN0-8018-6798-3(hardcover : alk. paper)
1.Heroin habit—Social aspects—United States. 2.Heroin habit—Research—
United States. 3.Narcotic habit—Research—United States. 4.Narcotic addicts—
Research—United States. 5.Narcotic addicts—Government policy—United States.
[DNLM:1.Heroin Dependence—history—United States. 2.Drug and Narcotic
Control—history—United States. 3.Heroin Dependence—etiology—United States.
4.Research—history—United States. WM 11AA1A182c2001] I. Title.
HV5822.H4A375 2002
362.29′3′0973—dc21
2002001520
A catalog record for this book is available from the British Library.
In memory of
David Gordon Acker
Greta Gordon Acker
Jack David Pressman
and
Glenn Albinger

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Contents
Introduction 1
1 Heroin Addiction and Urban Vice Reform 13
2 The Opportunistic Approach 43
3 The Technological Fix:
The Search for a Nonaddicting Analgesic 62
4 Constructing the Addict Career 98
5 The Junkie as Psychopath 125
6 Healing Vision and Bureaucratic Reality 156
7 The Addict in the Social Body 184
Conclusion 212
Notes 231
Acknowledgments 261
Index 267

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Creating the
American Junkie