Oral history interview with Jerry, 1980

Biographical Note

Jerry was born in Brooklyn, New York on October 31, 1915. He was the youngest of three brothers. Jerry's formal education ended with his completion of the eighth grade. When he was twelve years old, he was sent to the Hawthorne Military Academy for three years for burglarizing homes. He returned home in 1930 and stayed for three years before getting his own room in Brooklyn. At this time he financially supported himself by stealing. He was first introduced to opium by his friends when he was nineteen years old. After a year of opium use, he realized he was addicted. In 1936, he went to jail for four years for armed robbery. In 1941, when he came out of jail, he continued using opium, and began supplying opium and heroin to New York City dealers. In 1947, Jerry went back to jail for a parole violation. He came out of jail in 1949 and started working as a presser in a ladies' sportswear factory, a job which he held for twenty-five years. It was around this time that Jerry stopped taking opium and transitioned to taking Dolophines (methadone) that he purchased on the street. He joined the Beth Israel Medical Center methadone program in April 1973. Jerry was interviewed for the project that led to the book Addicts Who Survived. The name is likely a pseudonym for the project

Scope and Contents

In this interview, Jerry discusses his life in Brooklyn, New York, with a special focus on his drug use. Jerry describes his observations of the typical opium user and their occupations including showmen and women, conmen, and bookmakers. He also compares the class of people using opium to the class of people using heroin, and discusses popular attitudes held by opium users towards heroin users. He explains his process of converting crude or medicinal opium into smoking opium. He compares the price of opium between the 1930s and the 1940s. He describes how many opium users he knew were forced to switch to heroin in the late 1940s and early 1950s because opium became scarce. He also mentions that after World War II, the opium trade was no longer a commercial business, but a matter of personal connections. He describes how he transitioned to Dolophines in the early 1950s when he could no longer obtain opium. He describes how he bought the Dolophine from street dealers for several years before obtaining a prescription from his family doctor. He delves into the process, strategies, and challenges of redeeming prescription drugs. He discusses his twenty-five year career as a presser in a ladies’ sportswear factory. He details the effect of methadone, and compares it to that of opium

Subjects

• Courtwright, David T., 1952- interviewer.
• Drug abuse--United States--History--20th century.
• Drug addicts--United States.
• Drug traffic--United States--History--20th century.
• Heroin abuse--United States--History--20th century.
• Interviews.
• Jerry--Interviews.
• Joseph, Herman, 1931- interviewer.
• Methadone maintenance--United States--History--20th century.
• Opium abuse--United States--History--20th century.
• Oral histories (literary works)

Access Conditions

Copyright by David Courtwright