Columbia Center for Oral History Portal > Oral history interview with Jim B., 1981Biographical NoteJim B. was born on February 15, 1921 in Greenville, South Carolina. He attended school through the fourth grade, and then got a job making deliveries for a local drug store and meat market on his bicycle to help support his family. He moved to New York City in 1939 and began working as a welder at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. Jim was discharged from that job in 1945, and then began doing janitorial work for a real estate agency. In 1948, he got a job as a truck driver for a waste paper company. He was first introduced to heroin by the wife of a hitchhiker he picked up while driving for work. He began dealing heroin in 1951 and using heroin in 1952. Jim B. was arrested five times, three of them drug related, between 1936 and 1964. He was incarcerated at a few different facilities over that time period, including Rikers Island and Sing Sing Correctional Facility. Jim detoxed off of heroin a few times at facilities including the Morris J. Bernstein Institute and Serrah. He joined the methadone program in 1969. In February of 1970, he got a job as a mental hygiene therapist aide at Willowbrook State School. Jim B. was interviewed for the project that led to the book Addicts Who Survived. The name is likely a pseudonym for the project
Scope and ContentsIn this interview, Jim B. discusses his life in New York, with special attention towards his drug use. He describes how he was first introduced to heroin and how he began dealing it. He discusses how he began using heroin in 1952 in order to lessen his pending jail sentence. He describes how he bribed police in the thirty-second precinct in Manhattan in order to keep his family, who had gotten involved in his drug trafficking, out of jail. He delves into how he sold drugs on Rikers Island while incarcerated. He also describes in great detail the shooting galleries he frequented in the 1950s and 1960s including how and where they operated, and what kind of people they serviced. Jim discusses how he has seen the methadone program change in the ten years he has been a part of it. He remarks on his interest in self improvement and self-education, and describes how he believes it played a role in his survival through his heroin addiction. Jim compares the quality and price of heroin between the 1950s and 1960s. He describes his experience of heroin cravings, and mentions that he would sometimes physically manifest withdrawal symptoms after abstaining from the drug for years. He discusses how he contracted hepatitis twice from heroin injection. Jim also touches on his experience at various drug rehabilitation centers including Serrah and the Morris J. Bernstein Institute
SubjectsAccess ConditionsCopyright by David Courtwright
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