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Tragic magic: Word usage among New York city heroin addicts

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Abstract

These semantic inventions and adaptations-compiled with the assistance of a panel of heroin addicts-make it abundantly clear that not all of the euphoria is drug-induced. As one addict put it, “When I'm on the way home with the bag safely in my pocket, and I haven't been caught stealing all day, and I didn't get beat and the cops didn't get me-I feel like a working man, coming home; he's worked hard, but he knows he done something ...”

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He is currently engaged in the private practice of psychotherapy.

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Lewy, M.G., Preble, E. Tragic magic: Word usage among New York city heroin addicts. Psych Quar 47, 228–245 (1973). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01562229

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