Pubdate: Mon, 01 Nov 1999 Source: New York Times (NY) Copyright: 1999 The New York Times Company Contact: http://www.nytimes.com/ Forum: http://www10.nytimes.com/comment/ Author: Juan Forero CHARGES PUSH DRUG-USE SCHOLAR'S CAREER FROM HEIGHTS TO DEPTHS For a quarter-century, Dr. Ansley Hamid was a creative researcher and trailblazing anthropologist, discovering and documenting trends in urban drug use that were closely watched and, in some cases, celebrated by academics and drug-use experts nationwide. With notebook in hand, Dr. Hamid would trudge into America's drug underworld, talking to addicts and users and documenting such trends as the advent of crack in New York. But his "crowning achievement," as the professor put it, came in 1996, when the federal government awarded $2.6 million to Dr. Hamid's employer, the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, so he could head a five-year study of heroin use in New York's toughest neighborhoods. "Finally," the professor said with a sigh, "I get national and international recognition." Instead of finding acclaim, though, Dr. Hamid has watched his career disintegrate. Last Monday, a federal complaint filed in Manhattan accused Dr. Hamid, 55, of misusing money from the grant, which was made by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, a division of the federal Department of Health and Human Services. Based on a two-year investigation, the complaint said that Dr. Hamid used at least $5,000 to take trips, buy CD's and hire researchers to work on a book manuscript -- all unrelated to the research for which the money was earmarked. The complaint also said Dr. Hamid directed a researcher to use fund money to purchase heroin for his subjects. In addition, Dr. Hamid, who remains free on a $25,000 bond after appearing in Federal District Court in Manhattan, faces the loss of his position at John Jay. The professor was suspended from the heroin project in December 1997 and removed from teaching in January 1999, though he is still being paid. College officials are building a case to revoke his tenure, said Robert E. Diaz, the college's counsel. The professor remains adamant about his innocence, charging that colleagues envious over his success conspired with university officials to ruin him. "I'm looking at 10 years in prison and a fine of $250,000, for what is really trumped-up charges," he said. Dr. Hamid does not deny spending money on some of the items outlined in the complaint, but he disputes the federal complaint's assertions that the spending was not related to his research. College officials and several former colleagues disagree. Joy Settembrino, whom Dr. Hamid hired to supervise workers and handle the direct-cost account from the federal grant, contended that the professor "started getting carried away with the spending." Ms. Settembrino said Dr. Hamid requested money from the account for items that did not appear related to the heroin research. She said she refused. So Dr. Hamid instead spent from an indirect-cost account, Ms. Settembrino said, in the process accumulating such items as a tapestry worth about $800, computer equipment that is no longer at the university and furniture that never arrived at the project's offices. Colleagues and drug experts who said they had long admired Dr. Hamid's work, and even some of those who denounced the professor's supposed excesses, have been saddened by the revelations. The long career of a serious academic and investigator appears to have met a scandalous end, they said. "I don't want anyone to imply I'm taking a position, but I'm very unhappy about a man of achievement who's in this situation," said Dr. Nathan Gould, chairman of the anthropology department at John Jay. "It's a tragic situation. It may not be Shakespearean in scope, but for him, it is. For him, it's a terrible, terrible situation." Dr. Hamid's first major stop in academia was the London School of Economics, where he received a sociology degree in 1968. After teaching and studying in Nigeria and India, Dr. Hamid arrived at Columbia University in the mid-1970's. Working under Dr. Lambros Comitas, he developed a keen interest in the role drugs and drug policies play in society. To Dr. Comitas, who has taught at Columbia since 1958 and heads anthropology programs, the young man "was one of our best students, one of our brightest and best." After receiving a doctorate in anthropology in 1980, Dr. Hamid distinguished himself by heading into the bleakest neighborhoods in the city, developing rapport with residents and, ultimately, drug dealers, users and addicts. The professor earned a reputation for building trust with the people in an underworld suspicious of outsiders. In fact, in dank apartments and on blighted street corners, Dr. Hamid would often be greeted enthusiastically by his subjects. Dr. Hamid's findings began to receive notice. He developed theories detailing the structure of the informal drug economy. He wrote about how Washington's tough marijuana interdiction policies in the 1970's and 1980's hastened the international trafficking of cocaine. Dr. Hamid also published papers and one book, "Drugs in America: Sociology, Economics and Politics," in 1998. He also said he edited another book and wrote manuscripts for two more. His work brought him grants from foundations, universities and government agencies. Most of the amounts were modest, though the Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation gave him $130,000 for two projects that listed him as principal investigator. So for the professor, nothing could have been seen as more of an affirmation of his work than the government's $2.6 million grant, which was made to John Jay and the Research Foundation of the City University of New York, for a project titled Heroin in the 21st Century. Then, in 1997, the National Institute on Drug Abuse notified the college that an additional $2.8 million grant had been approved, this one for Dr. Hamid to study drug policies in the Caribbean. "These awards were crowning achievements of this whole 25-year career," Dr. Hamid said. But by early 1997, Dr. Hamid's reputation had begun to unravel. His demeanor had begun to deteriorate, former colleagues said, and he became volatile and verbally abusive. Dr. Hamid, who as principal investigator had overall authority on the project, also cut salaries and fired at least five researchers, current and former employees of the project said. "He would not give grandfatherly advice," said Dr. Richard Curtis, an anthropology professor at John Jay who was a co-writer of the grant request for financing for the heroin project and who served as project director. "He would sometimes be quite nasty about it, and people would leave in tears. People were kind of traumatized, because they felt they had done their best." Travis Wendel, a doctoral candidate at John Jay, said that during one dispute over a paper he had written, Dr. Hamid became so angry that he challenged Wendel to a fistfight. "Having a bit of power and control and so on went to his head, and he couldn't handle it," said Wendel, who said he was the first employee fired by Dr. Hamid. "He's just worse with people than anyone I've known in my life." With questions over Dr. Hamid's management style threatening to derail the project, exasperated researchers at first went to Dr. Curtis for advice. Dr. Curtis responded by going to the department chairman, Dr. Gould, and college officials. When allegations arose in late 1997 about the possible misuse of grant money, sources close to the case said the college notified the Department of Health and Human Services and an investigation ensued. The professor still has his supporters, people like Suzana Maia, a part-time researcher on the project, who said: "I never had any problem with Professor Hamid. I was very well treated during the short period I stayed in the program." But Dr. Hamid, who has remained away from the university during the saga, is clearly wistful about his years of work and worried about the future. "It looks like this whole action at John Jay has destroyed my viability and made it more difficult for me to go to funding agencies," he said. "So it's a little heartbreaking that all of that has been destroyed." - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake