A SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY ON THE DRUG USE(R) CAREER

This paper provides a brief discussion of the issues in examining ''he avy'' drug use in terms of a ''career.'' This is an old paradigm in dr ug user research, and one that has produced some of the richest descri ptions in the literature. It draws on the analytic approach developed to study other criminal activity in terms of ''criminal careers'' as w ell as the literature describing the variety of career ''patterns'' fo r substance users. Research into drug user careers is focused on the m ost serious, chronic substance users and examines the predictors of tr ansition from lower level involvement to higher levels of involvement. Their use differs from that of experimental or social-recreational us e in terms of its frequency and its significance in the user's life. T he bibliography is divided into two general headings: research which d escribed drug use careers and methodological issues in studying drug u se careers. It ranges from classic narratives of the lives of drug use rs to discussions of the problems of trying to characterize accurately or to follow complex lives over time.