Download or read book American Overdose written by Chris McGreal and published by PublicAffairs. This book was released on 2018-11-13 with total page 346 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A comprehensive portrait of a uniquely American epidemic -- devastating in its findings and damning in its conclusions The opioid epidemic has been described as "one of the greatest mistakes of modern medicine." But calling it a mistake is a generous rewriting of the history of greed, corruption, and indifference that pushed the US into consuming more than 80 percent of the world's opioid painkillers. Journeying through lives and communities wrecked by the epidemic, Chris McGreal reveals not only how Big Pharma hooked Americans on powerfully addictive drugs, but the corrupting of medicine and public institutions that let the opioid makers get away with it. The starting point for McGreal's deeply reported investigation is the miners promised that opioid painkillers would restore their wrecked bodies, but who became targets of "drug dealers in white coats." A few heroic physicians warned of impending disaster. But American Overdose exposes the powerful forces they were up against, including the pharmaceutical industry's coopting of the Food and Drug Administration and Congress in the drive to push painkillers -- resulting in the resurgence of heroin cartels in the American heartland. McGreal tells the story, in terms both broad and intimate, of people hit by a catastrophe they never saw coming. Years in the making, its ruinous consequences will stretch years into the future.

Download or read book Methland written by Nick Reding and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 2009-07-01 with total page 280 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A New York Times Bestseller Winner of the Chicago Tribune Heartland Prize Winner of the Hillman Prize for Book Journalism Named a best book of the year by: the Los Angeles Times the San Francisco Chronicle the Saint Louis Post-Dispatch the Chicago Tribune the Seattle Times "A stunning look at a problem that has dire consequences for our country.”-New York Post The dramatic story of Methamphetamine as it comes to the American Heartland-a timely, moving, account of one community's attempt to confront the epidemic and see their way to a brighter future. Crystal methamphetamine is widely considered to be the most dangerous drug in the world, and nowhere is that more true than in the small towns of the American heartland. Methland is the story of the drug as it infiltrates the community of Oelwein, Iowa (pop. 6,159), a once-thriving farming and railroad community. Tracing the connections between the lives touched by meth and the global forces that have set the stage for the epidemic, Methland offers a vital and unique perspective on a pressing contemporary tragedy. Oelwein, Iowa is like thousand of other small towns across the county. It has been left in the dust by the consolidation of the agricultural industry, a depressed local economy and an out-migration of people. If this wasn't enough to deal with, an incredibly cheap, long-lasting, and highly addictive drug has come to town, touching virtually everyone's lives. Journalist Nick Reding reported this story over a period of four years, and he brings us into the heart of the town through an ensemble cast of intimately drawn characters, including: Clay Hallburg, the town doctor, who fights meth even as he struggles with his own alcoholism; Nathan Lein, the town prosecutor, whose case load is filled almost exclusively with meth-related crime, and Jeff Rohrick, who is still trying to kick a meth habit after four years. Methland is a portrait of a community under siege, of the lives the drug has devastated, and of the heroes who continue to fight the war. It will appeal to readers of David Sheff's bestselling Beautiful Boy, and serve as inspiration for those who believe in the power of everyday people to change their world for the better.

Download or read book Dreamland YA edition written by Sam Quinones and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 2019-07-16 with total page 225 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As an adult book, Sam Quinones's Dreamland took the world by storm, winning the NBCC Award for General Nonfiction and hitting at least a dozen Best Book of the Year lists. Now, adapted for the first time for a young adult audience, this compelling reporting explains the roots of the current opiate crisis. In 1929, in the blue-collar city of Portsmouth, Ohio, a company built a swimming pool the size of a football field; named Dreamland, it became the vital center of the community. Now, addiction has devastated Portsmouth, as it has hundreds of small rural towns and suburbs across America. How that happened is the riveting story of Dreamland. Quinones explains how the rise of the prescription drug OxyContin, a miraculous and extremely addictive painkiller pushed by pharmaceutical companies, paralleled the massive influx of black tar heroin--cheap, potent, and originating from one small county on Mexico's west coast, independent of any drug cartel. Introducing a memorable cast of characters--pharmaceutical pioneers, young Mexican entrepreneurs, narcotics investigators, survivors, teens, and parents--Dreamland is a revelatory account of the massive threat facing America and its heartland.

Download or read book The Andean Cocaine Industry written by P. Clawson and published by Springer. This book was released on 2016-04-30 with total page 282 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: It is commonly known that the Andean nations of Colombia, Peru, and Bolivia are the international centers of cocaine production. But until now, there has been no comprehensive view of this billion dollar industry. Using never-before unearthed information culled from their extensive field research, Patrick Clawson and Rensselaer Lee reveal the configuration of the drug industry, from the original cultivation of coca in the fields of South America to the sale of cocaine on the streets of the United States. The authors analyze the economic and political impact of the drug business on the Andean nations, including such problems as violence and the undermining of legitimate business. Through the ground-breaking work of Clawson and Lee, The Andean Cocaine Industry illuminates one of the most pervasive problems facing the world today.

Download or read book The Least of Us written by Sam Quinones and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 2021-11-02 with total page 433 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Apple Best Books of 2021 Longlisted for the Andrew Carnegie Medal * Shortlisted for the Zocalo Book Prize From the New York Times bestselling author of Dreamland, a searing follow-up that explores the terrifying next stages of the opioid epidemic and the quiet yet ardent stories of community repair. Sam Quinones traveled from Mexico to main streets across the U.S. to create Dreamland, a groundbreaking portrait of the opioid epidemic that awakened the nation. As the nation struggled to put back the pieces, Quinones was among the first to see the dangers that lay ahead: synthetic drugs and a new generation of kingpins whose product could be made in Magic Bullet blenders. In fentanyl, traffickers landed a painkiller a hundred times more powerful than morphine. They laced it into cocaine, meth, and counterfeit pills to cause tens of thousands of deaths-at the same time as Mexican traffickers made methamphetamine cheaper and more potent than ever, creating, Sam argues, swaths of mental illness and a surge in homelessness across the United States. Quinones hit the road to investigate these new threats, discovering how addiction is exacerbated by consumer-product corporations. “In a time when drug traffickers act like corporations and corporations like traffickers,” he writes, “our best defense, perhaps our only defense, lies in bolstering community.” Amid a landscape of despair, Quinones found hope in those embracing the forgotten and ignored, illuminating the striking truth that we are only as strong as our most vulnerable. Weaving analysis of the drug trade into stories of humble communities, The Least of Us delivers an unexpected and awe-inspiring response to the call that shocked the nation in Sam Quinones's award-winning Dreamland.

Download or read book Short supply Prescription Drugs written by United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation and published by . This book was released on 2013 with total page 142 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Drugs and the American Dream written by Patricia A. Adler and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2012-02-28 with total page 447 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Drugs and the American Dream presents an up-to-date anthology of chiefly contemporary readings that explore the myriad sociological correlates of licit and illicit drug use in the United States. Unique approach to the topic that offers an organizing theme of sociological concepts-age, social class, ethnicity, gender, as well as societal response to drug use including drug education, treatment, and policy. The book is interdisciplinary in terms of approach, making it useful in a variety of contexts. Includes a wide array of ethnographic articles that place reader directly into the perspectives of drug users through their own voices Brief framing introductions to each article provide "interconnective tissue," guiding the student to the heart of what's important in the piece that follows. Offers a balanced approach to various substances-tobacco, alcohol, prescription drugs, and illegal drugs. Provides students with a realistic perspective on the extent of substance use in American society as well as a critical appreciation of the real versus imagined harms associated with use of various substances.

Download or read book Drugs as Weapons Against Us written by John L. Potash and published by Trine Day. This book was released on 2015-05-25 with total page 421 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Drugs as Weapons Against Us meticulously details how a group of opium-trafficking families came to form an American oligarchy and eventually achieved global dominance. This oligarchy helped fund the Nazi regime and then saved thousands of Nazis to work with the Central Intelligence Agency. CIA operations such as MK-Ultra pushed LSD and other drugs on leftist leaders and left-leaning populations at home and abroad. Evidence supports that this oligarchy further led the United States into its longest-running wars in the ideal areas for opium crops, while also massively funding wars in areas of coca plant abundance for cocaine production under the guise of a &“war on drugs&” that is actually the use of drugs as a war on us. Drugs as Weapons Against Us tells how scores of undercover U.S. Intelligence agents used drugs in the targeting of leftist leaders from SDS to the Black Panthers, Young Lords, Latin Kings, and the Occupy Movement. It also tells how they particularly targeted leftist musicians, including John Lennon, Jimi Hendrix, Kurt Cobain, and Tupac Shakur to promote drugs while later murdering them when they started sobering up and taking on more leftist activism. The book further uncovers the evidence that Intelligence agents dosed Paul Robeson with LSD, gave Mick Jagger his first hit of acid, hooked Janis Joplin on amphetamines, as well as manipulating Elvis Presley, Eminem, the Wu Tang Clan, and others.

Download or read book Eating Smoke One Man s Descent Into Crystal Meth Psychosis in Hong Kong s Triad Heartland written by Chris Thrall and published by Kings Road Publishing. This book was released on 2014-08-07 with total page 386 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Chris Thrall left the Royal Marines to find fortune in Hong Kong, but following a bizarre series of jobs he ended up homeless and hooked on Crystal Meth. He began working for the 14K, the city's most notorious crime syndicate, as a nightclub doorman in the Wan Chai red-light district. Heavily in psychosis, he uncovered a huge global conspiracy, made all the more confusing by the 'Foreign Triad' - a secretive expat clique in cahoots with the Chinese mafia. Desperate, addicted and alone in the neon glare of Hong Kong's seedy backstreets, Chris was forced to survive in the world's most unforgiving city, addicted to the world's most dangerous drug. Engaging, honest and full of Chris's irrepressible humour, this remarkable memoir combines gripping storytelling with brooding menace as the Triads begin to cast their shadow over him. The result is a truly psychotic urban nightmare.

Download or read book Drugs Crime and Justice written by Larry K. Gaines and published by Waveland Press. This book was released on 2013-12-11 with total page 590 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The twenty-six articles in this edited volume provide perspective on the interrelated issues surrounding the use of drugs in society. Although drugs have long been a social problem, the importance of the issue—and the involvement of the criminal justice system—have varied across time. Public concern has typically centered on illegal drugs, but the drug issue today is even more complex given the impact of prescription drugs. Exaggeration has been a constant theme in the history of public policy on drugs, usually playing on public fear to demonize specific drugs and users. Some drugs are more dangerous than others. The variations in effects impact enforcement, prevention, and treatment. If we are going to criminalize drugs and drug usage, policies and penalties should be based on the relative dangerousness of a drug or class of drugs. Policies can reduce harm, create harm, or both. Our current drug policies attempt to reduce harm through law enforcement. We arrest anyone involved in drug activities under the premise of protecting society. These same policies, however, result in the incarceration of large numbers of people; they are expensive; they overburden the criminal justice system; and they have lasting consequences for those caught up in the drug war no matter how minor their offenses. Drug policies should be weighed carefully, implementing those that result in the least amount of harm to society. The editors have collected timely articles that provide perspective and a foundation for an informed approach to addressing problems associated with drug use.

Download or read book White Market Drugs written by David Herzberg and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2020-10-23 with total page 372 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The contemporary opioid crisis is widely seen as new and unprecedented. Not so. It is merely the latest in a long series of drug crises stretching back over a century. In White Market Drugs, David Herzberg explores these crises and the drugs that fueled them, from Bayer’s Heroin to Purdue’s OxyContin and all the drugs in between: barbiturate “goof balls,” amphetamine “thrill pills,” the “love drug” Quaalude, and more. As Herzberg argues, the vast majority of American experiences with drugs and addiction have taken place within what he calls “white markets,” where legal drugs called medicines are sold to a largely white clientele. These markets are widely acknowledged but no one has explained how they became so central to the medical system in a nation famous for its “drug wars”—until now. Drawing from federal, state, industry, and medical archives alongside a wealth of published sources, Herzberg re-connects America’s divided drug history, telling the whole story for the first time. He reveals that the driving question for policymakers has never been how to prohibit the use of addictive drugs, but how to ensure their availability in medical contexts, where profitability often outweighs public safety. Access to white markets was thus a double-edged sword for socially privileged consumers, even as communities of color faced exclusion and punitive drug prohibition. To counter this no-win setup, Herzberg advocates for a consumer protection approach that robustly regulates all drug markets to minimize risks while maintaining safe, reliable access (and treatment) for people with addiction. Accomplishing this requires rethinking a drug/medicine divide born a century ago that, unlike most policies of that racially segregated era, has somehow survived relatively unscathed into the twenty-first century. By showing how the twenty-first-century opioid crisis is only the most recent in a long history of similar crises of addiction to pharmaceuticals, Herzberg forces us to rethink our most basic ideas about drug policy and addiction itself—ideas that have been failing us catastrophically for over a century.

Download or read book Heartland written by Sarah Smarsh and published by Scribner. This book was released on 2019-09-03 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: *Finalist for the National Book Award* *Finalist for the Kirkus Prize* *Instant New York Times Bestseller* *Named a Best Book of the Year by NPR, New York Post, BuzzFeed, Shelf Awareness, Bustle, and Publishers Weekly* An essential read for our times: an eye-opening memoir of working-class poverty in America that will deepen our understanding of the ways in which class shapes our country and “a deeply humane memoir that crackles with clarifying insight”.* Sarah Smarsh was born a fifth generation Kansas wheat farmer on her paternal side, and the product of generations of teen mothers on her maternal side. Through her experiences growing up on a farm thirty miles west of Wichita, we are given a unique and essential look into the lives of poor and working class Americans living in the heartland. During Sarah’s turbulent childhood in Kansas in the 1980s and 1990s, she enjoyed the freedom of a country childhood, but observed the painful challenges of the poverty around her; untreated medical conditions for lack of insurance or consistent care, unsafe job conditions, abusive relationships, and limited resources and information that would provide for the upward mobility that is the American Dream. By telling the story of her life and the lives of the people she loves with clarity and precision but without judgement, Smarsh challenges us to look more closely at the class divide in our country. Beautifully written, in a distinctive voice, Heartland combines personal narrative with powerful analysis and cultural commentary, challenging the myths about people thought to be less because they earn less. “Heartland is one of a growing number of important works—including Matthew Desmond’s Evicted and Amy Goldstein’s Janesville—that together merit their own section in nonfiction aisles across the country: America’s postindustrial decline...Smarsh shows how the false promise of the ‘American dream’ was used to subjugate the poor. It’s a powerful mantra” *(The New York Times Book Review).

Download or read book The Political Economy of Narcotics written by Julia Buxton and published by Zed Books Ltd.. This book was released on 2013-07-04 with total page 142 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book explores the origins, history and organisation of the international system of narcotic drug control with a specific focus on heroin, cannabis and cocaine. It argues that the century-long quest to eliminate the production, trade in and use of narcotic drugs has been a profound failure. The statistics produced by the international and domestic narcotic drug control agencies point to a sustained expansion of the drug trade, despite the imposition of harsh criminal sanctions against those engaged, as producers, traffickers or consumers, in the narcotic drugs market. The roots of this major international policy failure are traced back to the outdated ideology of prohibition, which is shown to be counterproductive, utopian and a fundamentally inadequate basis for narcotic drug policy in the twenty-first century. Prohibition, championed by many US policy makers, has left the international community poorly positioned to confront those changes to the drug trade and drug markets that have resulted from globalisation. Moreover, prohibition based approaches are causing more harm than good, as is demonstrated through reference to issues such as HIV/AIDS, the environment, conflict, development and social justice. As the drug control system approaches its centenary, there are signs that the global consensus on narcotic drug prohibition is fracturing. Some European and South American states are pushing for a new approach based on regulation, decriminalisation and harm reduction. But those seeking to revise prohibition strategies faces entrenched resistance, primarily by the U.S. This important text argues that successive American governments have pursued a contradictory approach; acting decisively against the narcotic drug trade at home and abroad, while at the same time working with drug traffickers and producer states when it is in America's strategic interest. As a result, US policy approaches emerge as a decisive factor in accounting for the failure of prohibition.

Download or read book Cartels at War written by Paul Rexton Kan and published by Potomac Books, Inc.. This book was released on 2012 with total page 295 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Now in its sixth year, the conflict in Mexico is a mosaic of several wars occurring at once: cartels battle one another, cartels suffer violence within their own organizations, cartels fight against the Mexican state, cartels and gangs wage war against the Mexican people, and gangs combat gangs. The war has killed more than 60,000 people since President Felipe Calderón began cracking down on the cartels in December 2006. The targets of the violence have been wide ranging--from police officers to journalists, from clinics to discos. Governments on either side of the U.S.- Mexican border have been unable to control the violence. The war has spilled over into American cities and affects domestic policy issues ranging from immigration to gun control, making the border the nexus of national security and public safety concerns. Drawing on fieldwork along the border and interviews with officials at the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Office of National Drug Control Policy, the Department of Defense, U.S. Border Patrol, and Mexican military officers, Paul Rexton Kan argues that policy responses must be carefully calibrated to prevent stoking more cartel violence, to cut the incentives to smuggle drugs into the United States, and to stop the erosion of Mexican governmental capacity.

Download or read book Traci Lords written by Traci Elizabeth Lords and published by Harper Collins. This book was released on 2013-04-30 with total page 351 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The moving, gripping, and tell–all autobiography of Traci Elizabeth Lords, a former child porn queen, electronica maven, and cult movie and TV star. At 14, Nora Kuzma ran away from home and ended up on the dirty streets of Hollywood. She fell in with a fast crowd, and her dreams of modelling soon landed her a spectacular centrefold in Penthouse Magazine, where at 15 she became internationally known as TRACI LORDS. From there she appeared in numerous adult films and magazines, denying her past and battling a deep addiction to cocaine and men. Three years later she got out. This is her memoir–a tale of loss, redemption, and ultimate survival as Traci Elizabeth Lords takes you into her secretive past, faces her demons, and shares her extraordinary journey of personal growth.

Download or read book The Truth About Methamphetamine and Crystal Meth written by Frank Spalding and published by The Rosen Publishing Group, Inc. This book was released on 2011-08-15 with total page 66 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Describes the effects of methamphetamine and crystal meth and provides information about drug testing, dependence and withdrawal, and finding treatment.

Download or read book Black tar Heroin Meth and Cocaine Continue to Flood the United States from Mexico written by United States. Congress. House. Committee on Government Reform. Subcommittee on Criminal Justice, Drug Policy, and Human Resources and published by . This book was released on 2001 with total page 112 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: