Oral history interview with Grace, 1981
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Terms of Use: The copyright law of the United States (title 17, United States Code) governs the making of reproductions of copyrighted material. Under certain conditions specified in the law, libraries and archives are authorized to furnish a reproduction. One of these specific conditions is that the reproduction is not to be used for any purpose other than your own private study, scholarship, or research. Any subsequent copying, downloading or distributing materials accessed by you in the Columbia University Libraries Digital Libraries Collection that are subject to copyright protection may constitute copyright infringement. In addition, Columbia University Libraries may employ technical measures to prevent any further copying, downloading, or distribution of the materials. A violation of these terms may subject you to potential liability for copyright infringement. For more information about copyright, fair use and permissions, refer to Columbia University Library’s Copyright Advisory Services at https://copyright.columbia.edu, and the Copyright & Permissions for Online Exhibitions & Digital Collections.
- Name
- Grace (Interviewee)
- Joseph, Herman, 1931- (Interviewer)
- Title
- Oral history interview with Grace, 1981
- Other Titles
- Reminiscences of Grace, 1981; Oral history of Grace, 1981
- Abstract
- In this interview, Grace discusses her life in New York City, with a focus on her drug use. She discusses her Catholic upbringing, her public school education, and her job as a waitress at Stouffer's Restaurant in Pershing Square, Manhattan. She also delves into her two marriages, the first in 1939, and the second in 1961. She discusses her addiction to codeine, and explains how she first became ad dicted after her doctor prescribed it to her for a severe chest cold. She also describes symptoms she would experience when she tried to stop taking the codeine after a year of daily use, including painful leg cramps, watery eyes, and throat draining. She describes how she was able to continuously fill her prescriptions at various Manhattan and Brooklyn drugstores with no issues. She discusses the various hospitals she visited for detoxification from codeine, including Metropolitan Hospital Center, Manhattan General Hospital, and New York City Health and Hospitals/Coney Island. She compares codeine and methadone, and discusses her experience in the methadone program
- Collection Name
- Addicts Who Survived oral history collection
- Subjects
- Drug addicts--United States; Drug abuse--History--20th century.--United States; Drug addicts--Rehabilitation--United States; Methadone maintenance--History--20th century.--United States; Codeine; Drugs--Prescribing; Grace
- Format
- oral histories
- Genre
- Interviews
- Date
- 1981
- Physical Description
- 63 pages
- Note (Biographical)
- Grace was born on October 21, 1920 in Brooklyn, New York, the youngest of six siblings. Her formal education ended after she graduated eighth grade. Shortly after, her family moved to Riverside Drive and 125th Street in Manhattan, and she began workin g as a waitress at Stouffer's Restaurant in Pershing Square. She got married in 1939, and had two children. Her husband died in the early 1950s. It was around this time, just after her husband died, that Grace was prescribed codeine by her doctor for a severe chest cold. She became addicted to the codeine and continued using it for around fifteen years. She married her second husband in 1961. Grace visited several hospitals to detox from codeine including Metropolitan Hospital Center, Manhattan General Hospital, and New York City Health and Hospitals/Coney Island, the last of which suggested she try a methadone program. Grace joined a methadone program in 1973. Her second husband passed away in 1978. Grace was interviewed for the project that led to the book Addicts Who Survived. The name is likely a pseudonym for the project
- Note
- Interviewed by Herman Joseph on May 15, 1981
- Note (Provenance)
- David Courtwright, Herman Joseph, and Don Des Jarlais, Gift, 1988
- Language
- English
- Library Location
- Columbia Center for Oral History, Columbia University
Browse Location’s Digital Content - Catalog Record
- 11690559
- Also In
- Oral History Archives at Columbia
- Time-Based Media
- Time-Based Media
- Persistent URL
- https://dx.doi.org/10.7916/d8-q75y-et15
- Related URLs
- Available digital content for this interview.