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This collection contains working papers, publications, and reports pertaining to the Ethnography of Cuban Drug Use, a research project funded by U.S. National Institute on Drug Abuse.  The research team comprised of two University of Miami anthropologists, a sociologist and a demographer.  Kirby was one of the two anthropologists and the project's research assistant in charge of collecting information about Cuban women.

The 1978-1981 project was funded to study patterns of drug use among a sample of Cuban men and women living in Miami, Florida.  The research methods used by the research team included participant observation and the administration of structured and open-ended interview schedules.  Life and drug histories were recorded on tape, transcribed, and coded using the Human Relations Area Files Outline of Cultural Materials for ease of retrieval and data analysis.

The researchers focused on patterns of legal and illegal drug use among a sample of Cuban refugees who had been living in the United States since Castro's rise to power in 1959.  Kirby's contribution to the study was in conducting life history interviews with sixty women and in compiling statistical data on women's use of minor tranquilizers and herbal remedies.  Patterns of drug use and abuse were placed within the context of stressful life events such as the exile experience, acculturation, and downward socioeconomic status.