Since 1963, the Narcotic Addiction Foundation of British Columbia has been administering Methadone, a synthetic drug, on a prolonged basis to a selected group of heroin addicts. For the purposes here, those addicts receiving Methadone on a continuous day to day basis for an indefinite period of time will be called prolongeds. Those addicts receiving Methadone in decreasing dosage over a twelve day withdrawal period will be referred to as regulars. Ingeborg Paulus, Research Associate at the Foundation, assessed the effectiveness of Methadone by comparing a group of addicts given the drug on a prolonged basis to a group of addicts undergoing regular twelve day withdrawal. The findings of her study showed that prolongeds committed fewer crimes than the regulars. The addicts in the prolonged group were significantly older than those in the regular group. Paulus found that age was the most important factor in the addicts' decreased use of narcotics. This tendency to use less drugs as the addict becomes older is known as the "maturing-out" process. Therefore, a decrease in crime by the prolonged group may not be solely attributable to Methadone, but to the age of the addict. The purpose of the present study is to test the causal relationship between the prolonged administration of Methadone to heroin addicts and their criminal behaviour. To carry out this study, the following two hypotheses were developed: (1) Heroin addicts commit fewer crimes when maintained on prolonged Methadone, and (2) Heroin addicts maintained on prolonged Methadone commit fewer crimes than heroin addicts who are given regular withdrawal. The research method used involved a retrospective, follow-up study utilizing all of the addicts in Paulus' sample who were between the ages of twenty-five and forty years. This was done in an effort to make the two groups more comparable in their age distribution. To test hypothesis one, a 'before and after' design was proposed that will allow investigation of the addict's criminal activity prior to and after his exposure to prolonged Methadone. To test the second hypothesis, the criminal behaviour of the prolongeds will be compared to the criminal behaviour of the regulars. Additional analysis are suggested to assist in assessing the comparability of the two groups. After considering the numerous and unexpected problems a researcher faces, it is concluded that, while it may be feasible to conduct this study using the sample available, one cannot depend on the reliability or validity of the findings to test the hypotheses conclusively. / Arts, Faculty of / Social Work, School of / Graduate

Thesis (M.S.W.)--University of Hong Kong, 1979.

published_or_final_version / Public Health / Master / Master of Public Health

Not available / text

Not available / text

No description available.

Thesis (M.Soc.Sc.)--University of Hong Kong, 1988. / Also available in print.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2007. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

This study explores how the representation of the drug-addict in Hollywood cinema has changed due to governmental and studio policy change, social shifts of opinion, and economic structure. This discussion and exploration primarily focuses upon narrative Hollywood film as this industry has a long and varied history of addiction films. While there have been a variety of shifts in the depiction of drug-addiction due to social changes and industry regulation, perhaps at no other time in cinema history has the culmination of economics, politics, and independent art had such a large impact on the depiction of addiction than in the 1970s. This defining decade did more than alter the social perspective on drug usage; it set the stage for a drastic alteration in the perception of drug-addiction that occurred in the decades to follow. The Seventies were filled with social upheaval and a powerful youth movement that altered the representation greatly. This study discusses three types of drug-addiction representation and the social, political, and economic context in which they reflect and influence. While the social importance placed upon cinema is not questioned in this investigation, the techniques of representation of the addict in film are explored. I examine three characterizations in the addiction films of the 1970s. These phases include, but are not limited to representations of African-Americans, war veterans, and narcissists as drug-addicts in American cinema. I propose that the representation of the addict has shifted due more to sociological impacts rather than an audience-centered and message driven approach. Expounding further, I argue that the sociological impacts, such as federal legislation, are more impacting on the representation of the drug-addict in film rather than a decisive message about addiction for the benefit of the audience. The political-economic, cultural dynamic also plays a significant role in the development of such representation

A presente dissertação teve como objetivo investigar a toxicomania a partir da clínica psicanalítica com usuários de álcool e/ou drogas. Empreendeu-se para tanto, uma revisão teórica do campo psicanalítico orientado pela obra freudiana e pelo ensino de Lacan, articulada a uma análise de cinco casos clínicos. O tema e questões relacionadas surgiram dos desafios ante a prática e de uma atitude investigativa, por parte da autora, diante do serviço público assistencial, além de perceber a relevância atribuída ao tema pela sociedade contemporânea em virtude de seu expressivo crescimento como problema de saúde pública. As questões que se colocam no texto podem ser propostas a partir das perguntas: o que é toxicomania? Qual a influência desse signo? __ uma vez que o termo toxicomania significa alguma coisa para alguém, para a medicina, por exemplo, o sintoma é um signo. Quais as consequências para a direção do tratamento de fazer da toxicomania umsintoma, signo da doença? É possível que a toxicomania seja um sintoma, não como signo, mas, como significante, e, como tal, passível de ser decifrado? Portanto, a linha de trabalho segue, inicialmente, a ética da psicanálise e o lugar do psicanalista na instituição pública de saúde; destaca a toxicomania articulada aos discursos, tal como propostos por Jacques Lacan, e suas modalidades de tratamento; aponta os avatares da toxicomania na contemporaneidade; e, por fim, levanta a questão sobre a toxicomania à luz da psicanálise, bem como seu papel no diagnóstico clínico. Nessa perspectiva, foram verificadas duas hipóteses: a toxicomania como um fenômeno clínico e no caso de pacientes cuja estrutura clínica seja neurótica, a toxicomania ser um sintoma. Para Freud, o sintoma é uma formação de compromisso que promove uma satisfação substitutiva. Ao longo do trabalho, verificou-se que, por vezes, a toxicomania também pode ser uma substituição desse tipo. / This dissertation aimed to investigate the drug addiction from the psychoanalytic clinic with users of alcohol and /or drugs. Taken up for both, a theoretical review of the field work guided by Freudian work and the teaching of Lacan, articulated to an analysis of five cases. The topic and issues were the challenges before the practice and attitude research by the author, before the public welfare, and understand the importance given to the subject by contemporary society because of their significant growth as a health problem. The issues that arise in the text may be proposed from the questions: what is drug addiction? What is the influence of this sign? since the sentence drug addiction means something to someone, because, for medicine, for example, the symptom is a sign. What are the consequences for the direction of the treatment to make the drug addiction a symptom, sign of the disease? Is it possible that the drug addition is a symptom, not like a sign, but like a significant and therefore able to be deciphered? So the line of work follow, initially, the ethics of psychoanalysis and the place of the psychoanalyst in the institution of public health, highlights the drug addiction linked to discourses, as proposed by Jacques Lacan, and their modalits of treatment, as the avatars of drug addiction in contemporaneity, and, finally, raises the question about drug addiction in the light of psychoanalysis, and its role in clinical diagnosis. Accordingly, two hypotheses were verified: the drug addiction as a clinical phenomenon and in the case of patients whose clinical structure is neurotic, the addiction is a symptom. For Freud, the symptom is a formation of compromise that promotes a substitutive satisfaction. Throughout the work, it was found that sometimes the drug addiction can also be a replacement of this type.