Oral history interview with Jim B., 1981

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Name: B., Jim (Interviewee); Joseph, Herman, 1931- (Interviewer)
Title: Oral history interview with Jim B., 1981
Other Titles: Reminiscences of Jim B., 1981; Oral history of Jim B., 1981
Abstract: In this interview, Jim B. discusses his life in New York, with special attention towards his drug use. He describes how he was first introduced to heroin and how he began dealing it. He discusses how he began using heroin in 1952 in order to lessen his pending jail sentence. He describes how he bribed police in the thirty-second precinct in Manhattan in order to keep his family, who had gotten invo lved in his drug trafficking, out of jail. He delves into how he sold drugs on Rikers Island while incarcerated. He also describes in great detail the shooting galleries he frequented in the 1950s and 1960s including how and where they operated, and what kind of people they serviced. Jim discusses how he has seen the methadone program change in the ten years he has been a part of it. He remarks on his interest in self improvement and self-education, and describes how he believes it played a role in his survival through his heroin addiction. Jim compares the quality and price of heroin between the 1950s and 1960s. He describes his experience of heroin cravings, and mentions that he would sometimes physically manifest withdrawal symptoms after abstaining from the drug for years. He discusses how he contracted hepatitis twice from heroin injection. Jim also touches on his experience at various drug rehabilitation centers including Serrah and the Morris J. Bernstein Institute
Collection Name: Addicts Who Survived oral history collection
Subjects: Drug addicts--United States; Drug dealers--United States; Imprisonment--United States; Drug traffic--History--20th century.--United States; Drug abuse--History--20th century.--United States; Heroin abuse--History--20th century.--United States; Drug addicts--Rehabilitation--United States; Methadone maintenance--History--20th century.--United States; B., Jim
Format: oral histories
Genre: Interviews
Date: 1981

Physical Description: 111 pages
Note (Biographical): Jim B. was born on February 15, 1921 in Greenville, South Carolina. He attended school through the fourth grade, and then got a job making deliveries for a local drug store and meat market on his bicycle to help support his family. He moved to New Yor k City in 1939 and began working as a welder at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. Jim was discharged from that job in 1945, and then began doing janitorial work for a real estate agency. In 1948, he got a job as a truck driver for a waste paper company. He was first introduced to heroin by the wife of a hitchhiker he picked up while driving for work. He began dealing heroin in 1951 and using heroin in 1952. Jim B. was arrested five times, three of them drug related, between 1936 and 1964. He was incarcerated at a few different facilities over that time period, including Rikers Island and Sing Sing Correctional Facility. Jim detoxed off of heroin a few times at facilities including the Morris J. Bernstein Institute and Serrah. He joined the methadone program in 1969. In February of 1970, he got a job as a mental hygiene therapist aide at Willowbrook State School. Jim B. 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 March 18, 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: 11868552
Also In: Oral History Archives at Columbia; Time-Based Media; Time-Based Media
Persistent URL: https://dx.doi.org/10.7916/d8-h1kf-dn86
Related URLs: Available digital content for this interview.