The data set used in this monograph is part of a National Institute on Drug Abuse personal interview and self-administered mail survey, which is described in Chapter 3. The original study, as proposed by the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, was intended to be an evaluation of drug-abuse information and education programs administered by the National Institute of Mental Health and the Office of Education. Support for the survey work originally came from the Center for Studies of Narcotics and Drug Abuse, NIMH, under contract HSM-42-71-93, and was continued in 1974 by the Behavioral and Social Sciences Branch, National Institute on Drug Abuse, under contract NO1-MH-1-OO93(ND). Dr. Louise Richards, Chief, Psychosocial Branch, Division of Research, NIDA, and formerly Research Psychologist at NIMH and then NIDA, was the federal-government investigator for both agency contracts.

The survey portion of the study was contracted to the Bureau of Social Science Research, Inc., a nonprofit corporation located in Washington, D.C. This contract work was directed by Albert Gollin, Principal Investigator, with the assistance of Catherine Judd, Renee Slobasky, and Carol Sosdian. Personal interviews in Baltimore were subcontracted to Sidney Hollander Associates; West Coast Community Surveys, Berkeley, California, conducted both the interview and mail surveys in San Francisco. Principal consultants to the survey work included Ira Cisin, Kenneth Lenihan, Dean Manheimer, Herbert Menzel, Laure Sharp, and Robert Somers.

The 12 professions represented in the survey – in both the sample and the four sets of 12 directed flow questions (Appendix B) used extensively here – were selected by HEW and its contractors as the professions most likely to have contact with young drug users.