In 1982, Dr. Geoffrey Dean, Director of the Medico-Social Research Board was asked by the then Minister for Health to investigate reports of an increase of heroin misuse in Dublin. An investigation of heroin misuse in a north central Dublin area (Mountjoy Ward A) was carried out in the winter of 1982/83, showing 88 young people using heroin. This study, conducted approximately 3 years after the initial study, presents the current situation for 74 of the original 88 heroin users who were identified during the 1982/1983 study. A questionnaire was administered to 74 of the original 88 heroin users from the earlier study who were contacted and willing to be interviewed, giving a response rate of 84%. Interviews took place in prisons, in locations chosen by the interviewees, and often on the streets. At the time of the interview 22 were still taking heroin, 23 in prison, 11 attending methadone maintenance programmes and 18 were heroin free. 76% of the sample were under 25 years, with the majority single or separated. The 41 single or separated parents had a total of 60 children. Since the original interview 69 respondent have attempted to give up heroin, primarily through detoxification programmes; 55 had attended hospital for drug-related conditions; 66 had been unemployed and 49 had served prison sentences. Thirteen persons had overdosed during the two-year period 1982-1983 and one person had overdosed since the initial interview. The findings of this study indicate largely negative outcomes for the respondents in terms of their social functioning, extent of drug use, and high level of lawbreaking and imprisonment.