Oral history interview with Mel, 1980

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Name: Mel (Interviewee); Courtwright, David T., 1952- (Interviewer); Joseph, Herman, 1931- (Interviewer)
Title: Oral history interview with Mel, 1980
Other Titles: Reminiscences of Mel, 1980; Oral history of Mel, 1980
Abstract: In this interview, Mel discusses his life in New York City, with a focus on his drug use. He describes the drug scene in New York City in the early 1930s, and the broad array of people who used drugs at that time. He describes the first time he used heroin, and how he developed an addiction. He discusses the negative attitudes popular among opium users toward heroin users, and compares a typical op ium user to a typical heroin user using metrics of class, race, and occupation. He discusses how control of the New York drug trade changed hands from Jewish crime syndicates to the Italian Mafia in the late 1930s. He discusses the drug panic that took place during World War II, and explains how he acquired drugs during this period of scarcity. He describes traveling across the United States with his friends and fellow conmen in the 1940s, and compares the price and availability of drugs between big cities and small towns in America. He describes how he approached doctors to acquire drug prescriptions in rural, southern towns in the 1940s. He details his arrest history, and discusses the conditions in various prisons in which he was incarcerated. Mel discusses various illnesses he contracted from heroin use, such as tetanus, abscesses, and ulcers. He discusses racial discrimination he experienced from the police. He describes how the drug scene in New York has changed from the 1930s to the 1980s. He shares his opinion of the methadone maintenance program
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; Opium abuse--History--20th century.--United States; Heroin abuse--History--20th century.--United States; Drug addicts--Rehabilitation--United States; Drugs--Prescribing; Crime--New York (State); Swindlers and swindling; Mel
Format: oral histories
Genre: Interviews
Date: 1980

Physical Description: 180 pages
Note (Biographical): Mel was born in 1915 in Chicago, Illinois. He attended school through eighth grade. When Mel was fourteen years old, he left his home in Chicago, and travelled to New York City where he stayed in a shelter created by Father Divine. In 1931, he began u sing heroin. Mel maintained many sources of income to fund his drug use such as selling drugs, gambling, working as a conman, pickpocketing, and pimping. In 1933, Mel transitioned from using heroin to opium. He was arrested in 1935, and served three years in a New York State penitentiary. He spent the 1940s traveling the United States with a group of friends and fellow conmen. From 1942 to 1969, Mel spent the majority of time incarcerated. He joined a methadone program in 1969. Mel 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 July 3 and July 15, 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: 11868608
Persistent URL: https://dx.doi.org/10.7916/d8-7hmf-3233
Related URLs: Available digital content for this interview.