Ex-Addict Streetworkers in a Mexican-American Community

Abstract

The Boyle Heights Project, an attempt to reduce narcotic addiction in a Mexican-American area by employing thirty former addicts as field workers, produced the following results in its first year: a higher rate of return to addiction among the field workers than prediction tables might have anticipated, with none' of the women workers able to remain drug-free; a controversial employment program that blatantly manipulates employers in the service of clients; a well-functioning detoxifi cation center; and an emerging role as an agency bridging the gap between the addict and the forces of society before whom he feels—and often is—helpless.