Oral history interview with Tony A., 1980

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Name: A., Tony (Interviewee); Courtwright, David T., 1952- (Interviewer); Joseph, Herman, 1931- (Interviewer)
Title: Oral history interview with Tony A., 1980
Other Titles: Reminiscences of Tony A., 1980; Oral history of Tony A., 1980
Abstract: This interview explores the life and heroin addiction of Tony A. His narrative focuses on his history of employment, drug use and sales, conflicts with the law, and processes of withdrawal and recovery. The interviewers ask about his experiences with drug use, detoxification, and recovery programs over the course of approximately fifteen years of incarceration spent in Rikers Island, the Tombs (Man hattan House of Detention), Leavenworth Federal Penitentiary, and Lexington Federal Medical Center. Other topics include dosages and motivations for use, use of PG (panegoric, an opium tincture) as a heroin substitute, variations in price and availability of heroin, the impact of his drug use on his wife and family, and practices around cleaning and sharing needles
Collection Name: Addicts Who Survived oral history collection
Subjects: Drug addicts--United States; Imprisonment--United States; Heroin abuse--History--20th century.--United States; Drug traffic--History--20th century.--United States; A., Tony
Format: oral histories
Genre: Interviews
Date: 1980

Physical Description: 54 pages
Note (Biographical): Tony A. was born in Tampa, Florida in 1908 to a Cuban father and an Italian mother. He left school as a teenager, taking jobs to help support his family at a dry cleaner and a bakery, before moving to New York City in 1926. He and his wife married in 1929 and had two sons. While working in a cigarette factory, he began smoking marijuana and then snorting heroin in 1932. His first prison sentence of six months for stealing began in 1936, and was followed by stretches of two years (1939-1941) and eighteen months (1947-1948) for drug dealing. A third dealing conviction landed him in Leavenworth Penitentiary from 1951-1958 and, after a parole violation, 1959-1963. He remained addicted to heroin for most of his adult life until beginning a methadone program in 1971. Tony A. 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 David Courtwright and Herman Joseph on May 7, 1980
Note (Provenance): David Courtwright, Herman Joseph, and Don Des Jarlais, Gift, 1988
Language: English
Library Location: Columbia Center for Oral History, Columbia University
Catalog Record: 11875109
Persistent URL: https://dx.doi.org/10.7916/d8-jw9r-h779
Related URLs: Available digital content for this interview.