Gainesville, FL— “Addiction in American Life” resources are now available from the Samuel Proctor Oral History Program (SPOHP) online at the University of Florida Digital Collections. The transcripts and podcasts are the result of a semester’s work by SPOHP’s Spring 2015 undergraduate internship class to explore historians’ understanding of the complex phenomenon of addiction.
SPOHP students conducted interviews with former addicts, treatment providers, addiction researchers, drug historians, and representatives from the criminal justice system. Longtime drug users from a variety of backgrounds discussed their thoughts on what causes addiction and what it means to be “recovered,” and academics, clinicians, and others also offered their own perspectives on these questions based on years of professional observation.
Several interviews feature the onset and maintenance of addiction, law enforcement protocol, demographic changes, and life in cities like Gainesville and Jacksonville since the 1960s. There are currently 8 transcripts and 7 podcasts available online on the University of Florida Digital Collections.
For more information about these oral histories, please visit the Samuel Proctor Oral History Program’s website, call the office at 352-392-7168, or e-mail SPOHP Graduate Coordinator Kyle Bridge.