PROGRAM INFO
- Title:
- Chicanas And Heroin Addiction
- Program #
- 1980-51
- Theme:
- Society
- Series:
- Social Issues, Women's Issues
- Host:
- Linda Fregoso
- Guest:
- Albert Mata
- Date:
- Nov 1, 1980
Chicanas and Heroin Addiction
Dr. Albert Mata, a sociology professor, discusses his research on Chicana heroin abuse. In recent years, crime and narcotic related arrests among all women, including Chicanas, has increased dramatically. He offers a brief history of drug abuse in the United States, and notes heroin’s early popularity with 19th century rural white women. Over time, drug abuse became associated with certain ethnic groups and the poor. The early 1970s witnessed a dramatic rise in Chicana heroin abuse and Cardenas discusses several theories that seek to explain that increase. He believes that drug use is everywhere in society, but that it is more visible among the powerless whose drugs of choice have been criminalized. He also discusses other explanations that understand drug abuse as a coping mechanism or a status symbol.
Mata’s research seeks to contextualize drug use in the barrios by collecting the life histories of drug users. His work is just one part of the Chicano Pinto Research Project that collects data and generates policy recommendations on several issues affecting Chicanos. He discusses his hopes for his research, explaining that he also wants to look at what happens to women who return to the barrio after serving time for drug abuse and to whom they turn for support. He hopes his research will uncover local support networks and behaviors, the project can then promote and further develop with social workers, teachers and other community members.
KEYWORDS
AddictionAlbert Mata
Alfredo Gonzalez
Barrios
Belonging
Chicago
Chicana
Chicano Pinto Research Project
Class
Containment
Crime
Culturally Specific Outreach
Domestic Abuse
Domestic Violence
Drug Abuse
Drug Policy
El Paso
Family
Felons
Gangs
Gender
Healing
Heroin
Intimacy
Joe Moore
John Long
Laudanum
Los Angeles
Marginalization
Methadone
Middle Class
New York
Oakland
Opium
Oscar Wilde
Party Drug
Patriarchy
Pintos
Prison
Prostitution
Rape
Recidivism
Recovery
Resistance
Roberto Garcia
San Antonio
Sex work
Social Alienation
Status
Stigma
Subculture
Unemployment
War on Drugs
White women
Youth culture