Columbia Center for Oral History Portal > Oral history interview with Low, 1981Biographical NoteLow was born on July 8, 1922 in San Juan, Puerto Rico. His family moved to New York City when he was five years of age, and lived in Spanish Harlem. He is the second born of three siblings. Low briefly attended Chelsea Vocational High School, but dropped out and got a job to help support his family. During World War II, he joined the merchant marines. While working for the merchant marines, Low was at sea for twenty-two days at a time, with twenty-four hour respites in New York in between. He got married in 1944. He first tried heroin in 1949, and became addicted after three weeks. He retired from the merchant marines in 1968, and joined a methadone program in 1970. Low 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, Low discusses his life in New York City with a focus on his drug use. Low describes being born in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and immigrating with his family to New York City in 1927. He discusses the politics and interfacing of gangs that operated in his neighborhood of Spanish Harlem, mentioning groups like the Dukes, the Devils, and the Madison Flashes. He explains his fear and ignorance of the drug scene as a teen in the late 1930s, prior to his own addiction. He discusses at length his career in the merchant marines, including how he maintained his heroin addiction while at sea, the prices and quality of the heroin at the various ports his ship would stop at such as Lima, Peru; Genoa, Italy; and Beirut, Lebanon. He also discusses his drug connections in New York City, and his decision to buy heroin only from people he knew well
SubjectsAccess ConditionsCopyright by David Courtwright
| |
