Oral history interview with Herbert Kleber, 2015

Biographical Note

Herbert Kleber is Professor of Psychiatry and Director of the Division on Substance Abuse at the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons and the New York State Psychiatric Institute. Dr. Kleber has been a pioneer in the research and treatment of substance abuse for over forty years. He and his colleagues have helped develop and improve both medications currently used to treat substance abuse and the psychosocial approaches that accompany them.

Scope and Contents

Herbert Kleber describes his experience working at the "narcotics farm" in Lexington, Kentucky after completing his residency at Yale University. He then describes his return to Yale with a heightened interest in exploring pharmaceutical treatments for addiction, such as Naloxone. Kleber moves on to his tenure as the Deputy for Demand Reductions in George H. W. Bush's White House. Particular attention is given here to his struggle to secure more government support for methadone treatment, and the interaction of national and New York City politics surrounding substance abuse treatment. He recalls his convictions as a board member of Phoenix House. Finally, Kleber discusses the future of narcotics treatment, which, he asserts, will largely depend on the funding structure

Subjects

• College teachers--Interviews.
• Drug abuse--Treatment--Government policy--United States.
• Drug abuse--Treatment--New York (State)--New York.
• Interviews.
• Kleber, Herbert D.--Interviews.
• Naloxone.
• Narcotic Farm.
• Oral histories (literary works)
• Phoenix House (Organization)
• Substance abuse--Treatment.
• Therapeutic communities.
• Thurner, Lance, interviewer.

Access Conditions

Copyright by the Trustees of Columbia University in the City of New York, 2015