Based on participant observation studies of problematic consumers of narcot
ics in Stockholm, Sweden, this paper presents a life-history model illumina
ting why the research subjects started using narcotics and continued to do
so. The model consists of four stages. The first two are initiated before t
he individual begins taking drugs, and lead to the development of a drastic
ally negative self-image. The third stage consists of consciously breaching
societal norms, thereby provoking responses which confirm and consolidate
the negative self-image. In the fourth stage still more drastic deviant beh
avior and an increasingly negative self-image mutually reinforce each other
.