ABSTRACT
The aim of this chapter is to produce an understanding of factors contributing to drug-using (heroin) trajectories among men and women from a Muslim Pakistani background in our study area. Having discussed drug dealers, we wanted to explore the demand side of Bradford’s heroin-using market. In doing so, this chapter seeks to address three broad questions: (a) why the participants started using heroin, (b) what support was available to them and (c) what they thought about their drug use. This chapter also explores the wider consequences and impact of heroin use on the participants and in some cases on their families. A seemingly novel emergence of heroin use and heroin using careers among British Pakistani men and women is explained by growing depression and mental health problems among young British Pakistanis, as well as high availability from within the British Pakistani community.
