Hooked on Heroin

Translated by Aisling O'Neill Alarmingly, heroin is growing in popularity amongst young people. This is despite the fact that it is - more than any other drug - associated with failure, death, misery and poverty. This book explores why people are tempted by heroin and how globalization has played a key role in increasing the number of abusers. Rather than offer lofty and abstract theories on addiction, the author grounds his study firmly in the day-to-day lives of heroin users themselves. Norrkoping in Sweden is a mid-sized former industrial city like countless others throughout the world. It has suffered high unemployment as a result of its rapid decline as a hub of commerce. Once well known for housing the giant telecommunications company Ericsson, it sadly gains more notoriety today through its associations with heroin, which continues to be the drug of choice for Norrkoping's young people. Through privileged access to users themselves, Lalander is able to show us the real motivations and lifestyle choices behind addiction.Personal testimonies candidly expose the underground activities of a thriving subculture and spark vexing questions as to why these young people choose to flirt with fatality. What media representations influence heroin users? Is this phenomenon the inevitable by-product of modern life? What are the root causes at play? Lalander's in-depth investigation overturns many of the stereotypes associated with heroin use. Accessible and gripping, Hooked on Heroin brings a disturbing reality closer to home and shows how global and local practices are intimately linked.

“This pathbreaking ethnographic study examines all sides of a subculture of heroin users in a Swedish town - becoming a heroin user, functioning in the subculture, and dealing with the police. While the users may be provincial in their situation, Lalander shows how, through identifying with and living out stories from the media, they feel themselves part of a global culture.”

'An incisive ethnography exploring and explaining the hidden worlds of young heroin users.' Howard Parker, University of Manchester, author of Living with Heroin and Illegal Leisure 'This pathbreaking ethnographic study examines all sides of a subculture of heroin users in a Swedish town - becoming a heroin user, functioning in the subculture, and dealing with the police. While the users may be provincial in their situation, Lalander shows how, through identifying with and living out stories from the media, they feel themselves part of a global culture.' Robin Room, Professor at Stockholm University and Director of SoRAD 'Lalander clearly established considerable trust and rapport with his informants and Hooked on Heroin provides rare insights into their world, reminding us that local lives, even shitty ones, take thier cues from global cultures.' Society for the Study of Addiction 'Let there be no doubt: Philip Lalander has written an important book.' Young (Nordic Journal of Youth Research) 'The particular strength of the book is the ethnographic understandings that are articulated throughout, gathered from 150 interviews and various observation periods with 25 different heroin users...The book should be well received by a broad social science audience. Ultimately, it is a useful, engaging and welcome ethnographic, and less policy-driven, addition to addiction studies.' David Calvey, Sociology (July 2005)

Philip Lalander Associate Professor of Sociology,SoRAD (Social Research of Alcohol and Drugs), Stockholm University Translated from the Swedish by Aisling O'Neill

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