Female Heroin Addicts in a City Treatment Program: the Forgotten Minority†

Abstract

Female heroin addict clients suffer neglect of various kinds in connection with research efforts dealing with addiction. Often they are omitted altogether. Or, if included, topics relevant to their lives are not always examined, or a double standard of evaluation or interpretation, which operates to their disadvantage, is sometimes utilized. The study reported here was undertaken as a partial remedy for these ills. Its primary aim was to characterize a group of female heroin addicts at the time that they entered a city-run treatment program. Males were studied as well, however, so as to permit an examination of sex differences which might suggest modifications in male-oriented treatment programs.