Misadventures in the drug trade

FRANÇAIS :
Cet article retrace le travail et la vie de Dan Waldorf, sociologue, pendant 27 ans, à New York et à San Francisco. Son but était d'attaquer et de détruire les mythes sur les usagers de drogue et sur les héroïnomanes. Son travail a fourni un aperçu unique sur la drogue et les styles de vie des drogués. Cet article rappelle ses nombreuses contributions scientifiques dans le but de comprendre l'usage de drogue en général, et le lien drogue-délinquance en particulier : crédibilité de la méthode des échantillons "boule de neige" ; recherche sur les cocaïnomanes des classes moyennes, des vendeurs de cocaïne et des membres des gangs ; schémas de l'usage, de l'abus et de la délinquance chez des sous-groupes d'usagers (interaction de la pauvreté et des relations sociales) ; style ethnique différent de la vente de drogue (noir, latino, asiatique).
ENGLISH :
This article is autobiographical. Dans's work and his life were intertwined in ways that provided unique insights into drugs and addict lifestyles. The focus of much of his work was "to attack and demolish myths about drug users and heroin addicts". His legacy is broad ranging, including historical accounts of morphine users and the federal response to close down morphine clinics in the first quarter of this century; he made snowball sampling methods respectable; he saw rationality in the actions of heroin addicts and demonstrated this drug was not all-consuming; and he performed a similar service for cocaine. He struggled to maintain his career as drug researcher, often without the support of federal monies. As recently as two years before his death, he traveled around the country to document the history of underground needle exchange programs that were developing -using his retirement savings. This article documents his many scientific contributions to the understanding of drug use in general, and the interface of drug use and crime in particular. (Author's abstract)