Oral history interview with Leroy Street, 1981

Biographical Note

Leroy Street was born in 1895 in New York City. He began using heroin at fifteen years of age, and was addicted by the time he was sixteen. When he was twenty-three years of age, he met a woman who inspired him to quit drugs. They later married. After he stopped using drugs, he went on to have a career as a commercial artist, working as an illustrator for Wanamaker catalogues, and as an art instructor at Traphagen School. He published an autobiography in 1953 called "I Was a Drug Addict," on which he collaborated with David Loth

Scope and Contents

In this interview, Leroy Street discusses his autobiography, "I Was a Drug Addict." He reviews some details that are included in the book, such as his addiction to heroin from 1910 to 1923, his cycles of detox and relapse, his eventual turn to stealing to finance his heroin use, his stints in jail, and his wife, who he credits as his reason to stop using heroin. He also comments on the beginning of recreational heroin use in New York City in Greenwich Village, and how it spread across the nation. He discusses the process of writing his book with his collaborator David Loth, and his choice to publish it under a pseudonym. Street describes the New York City Narcotic Clinic, which he frequented for the year it was open from 1919 to 1920. He discusses not just the physical, but the psychological side of his personal heroin cravings. He discusses his opinions of methadone maintenance programs as well as therapeutic community models such as Phoenix House, Daytop, and Odyssey House. Street delves into his opinion of the most effective way to stay off drugs. He discusses his career as a commercial artist, including as an illustrator for Wanamaker catalogues, and an art instructor at Traphagen School

Subjects

• Artists--Interviews.
• Authors--Interviews.
• Courtwright, David T., 1952- interviewer.
• Crime--New York (State)--New York.
• Drug addicts--Rehabilitation--United States.
• Drug addicts--United States.
• Heroin abuse--United States--History--20th century.
• Interviews.
• Joseph, Herman, 1931- interviewer.
• Methadone maintenance--United States--History--20th century.
• Oral histories (literary works)
• Street, Leroy,--Interviews.
• Therapeutic communities.

Access Conditions

Copyright by David Courtwright