Download or read book Illegal Drugs written by Paul Gahlinger and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2003-12-30 with total page 481 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Does Ecstasy cause brain damage? Why is crack more addictive than cocaine? What questions regarding drugs are legal to ask in a job interview? When does marijuana possession carry a greater prison sentence than murder? Illegal Drugs is the first comprehensive reference to offer timely, pertinent information on every drug currently prohibited by law in the United States. It includes their histories, chemical properties and effects, medical uses and recreational abuses, and associated health problems, as well as addiction and treatment information. Additional survey chapters discuss general and historical information on illegal drug use, the effect of drugs on the brain, the war on drugs, drugs in the workplace, the economy and culture of illegal drugs, and information on thirty-three psychoactive drugs that are legal in the United States, from caffeine, alcohol and tobacco to betel nuts and kava kava.
Download or read book Hard Sell written by Jamie Reidy and published by Andrews McMeel Publishing. This book was released on 2010-09-14 with total page 242 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Jamie Reidy is the guy who's been there, done that, and walked away with the insider stories. Inside Hard Sell: Now a Major Motion Picture LOVE and OTHER DRUGS, you'll find yourself rooting for Reidy and shocked by the realities of the world that paid his salary. This comedic expose traces Reidy's experiences from Pfizer training to life as the "V-Man," when Reidy became Pfizer's number-one drug rep during the Viagra craze. With equal parts self-confidence and self-mockery, Reidy takes the reader on a hilarious romp through pharma-culture while revealing the controversial side of the drug industry. From viewing a circumcision to gaining a doctor's rapport to providing insight on why doctors choose to prescribe Drug X over Drug Y, and from how to bargain "sigs" and "scripts" to why the Viagra pill is shaped as a diamond, Reidy discloses everything. A witty, behind-the-scenes look at an industry that touches everyone in America with a prescription, Hard Sell uncovers truths about the pharmaceutical industry you'd rather not know and practices you'd like to believe weren't employed. Hard Sell has been adapted into a major motion picture starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Anne Hathaway.
Download or read book Drug Use for Grown Ups written by Dr. Carl L. Hart and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2022-01-11 with total page 305 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “Hart’s argument that we need to drastically revise our current view of illegal drugs is both powerful and timely . . . when it comes to the legacy of this country’s war on drugs, we should all share his outrage.” —The New York Times Book Review From one of the world's foremost experts on the subject, a powerful argument that the greatest damage from drugs flows from their being illegal, and a hopeful reckoning with the possibility of their use as part of a responsible and happy life Dr. Carl L. Hart, Ziff Professor at Columbia University and former chair of the Department of Psychology, is one of the world's preeminent experts on the effects of so-called recreational drugs on the human mind and body. Dr. Hart is open about the fact that he uses drugs himself, in a happy balance with the rest of his full and productive life as a researcher and professor, husband, father, and friend. In Drug Use for Grown-Ups, he draws on decades of research and his own personal experience to argue definitively that the criminalization and demonization of drug use--not drugs themselves--have been a tremendous scourge on America, not least in reinforcing this country's enduring structural racism. Dr. Hart did not always have this view. He came of age in one of Miami's most troubled neighborhoods at a time when many ills were being laid at the door of crack cocaine. His initial work as a researcher was aimed at proving that drug use caused bad outcomes. But one problem kept cropping up: the evidence from his research did not support his hypothesis. From inside the massively well-funded research arm of the American war on drugs, he saw how the facts did not support the ideology. The truth was dismissed and distorted in order to keep fear and outrage stoked, the funds rolling in, and Black and brown bodies behind bars. Drug Use for Grown-Ups will be controversial, to be sure: the propaganda war, Dr. Hart argues, has been tremendously effective. Imagine if the only subject of any discussion about driving automobiles was fatal car crashes. Drug Use for Grown-Ups offers a radically different vision: when used responsibly, drugs can enrich and enhance our lives. We have a long way to go, but the vital conversation this book will generate is an extraordinarily important step.
Download or read book Understanding the Demand for Illegal Drugs written by National Research Council and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2010-10-23 with total page 124 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Despite efforts to reduce drug consumption in the United States over the past 35 years, drugs are just as cheap and available as they have ever been. Cocaine, heroin, and methamphetamines continue to cause great harm in the country, particularly in minority communities in the major cities. Marijuana use remains a part of adolescent development for about half of the country's young people, although there is controversy about the extent of its harm. Given the persistence of drug demand in the face of lengthy and expensive efforts to control the markets, the National Institute of Justice asked the National Research Council to undertake a study of current research on the demand for drugs in order to help better focus national efforts to reduce that demand. This study complements the 2003 book, Informing America's Policy on Illegal Drugs by giving more attention to the sources of demand and assessing the potential of demand-side interventions to make a substantial difference to the nation's drug problems. Understanding the Demand for Illegal Drugs therefore focuses tightly on demand models in the field of economics and evaluates the data needs for advancing this relatively undeveloped area of investigation.
Download or read book Drugs without the hot air written by David Nutt and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2020-01-16 with total page 449 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The dangers of illegal drugs are well known and rarely disputed, but how harmful are alcohol and tobacco by comparison? The issue of what a drug is and how we should live with them affects us all: parents, teachers, users – anyone who has taken a painkiller or drunk a glass of wine. Written by renowned psychiatrist, Professor David Nutt, Drugs without the hot air casts a refreshingly honest light on drugs and answers crucial questions that are rarely ever disputed. What are we missing by banning medical research into magic mushrooms, LSD and cannabis? Can they be sources of valuable treatments? How can psychedelics treat depression? Drugs without the hot air covers a wide range of topics, from addiction and whether addictive personalities exist to the role of cannabis in treating epilepsy, an overview on the opioid crisis, and an assessment of how harmful vaping is. This new expanded and revised second edition includes even more details on international policies, particularly in the US. David's research has won international support, reducing drug-related harm by introducing policies that are founded on scientific evidence. But there is still a lot to be done. Accessibly written, this much-awaited second edition is an important book for everyone that brings us all up to date with the 'war of drugs'.
Download or read book Hard Bargains written by Mona Lynch and published by Russell Sage Foundation. This book was released on 2016-11-01 with total page 221 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The convergence of tough-on-crime politics, stiffer sentencing laws, and jurisdictional expansion in the 1970s and 1980s increased the powers of federal prosecutors in unprecedented ways. In Hard Bargains, social psychologist Mona Lynch investigates the increased power of these prosecutors in our age of mass incarceration. Lynch documents how prosecutors use punitive federal drug laws to coerce guilty pleas and obtain long prison sentences for defendants—particularly those who are African American— and exposes deep injustices in the federal courts. As a result of the War on Drugs, the number of drug cases prosecuted each year in federal courts has increased fivefold since 1980. Lynch goes behind the scenes in three federal court districts and finds that federal prosecutors have considerable discretion in adjudicating these cases. Federal drug laws are wielded differently in each district, but with such force to overwhelm defendants’ ability to assert their rights. For drug defendants with prior convictions, the stakes are even higher since prosecutors can file charges that incur lengthy prison sentences—including life in prison without parole. Through extensive field research, Lynch finds that prosecutors frequently use the threat of extremely severe sentences to compel defendants to plead guilty rather than go to trial and risk much harsher punishment. Lynch also shows that the highly discretionary ways in which federal prosecutors work with law enforcement have led to significant racial disparities in federal courts. For instance, most federal charges for crack cocaine offenses are brought against African Americans even though whites are more likely to use crack. In addition, Latinos are increasingly entering the federal system as a result of aggressive immigration crackdowns that also target illicit drugs. Hard Bargains provides an incisive and revealing look at how legal reforms over the last five decades have shifted excessive authority to federal prosecutors, resulting in the erosion of defendants’ rights and extreme sentences for those convicted. Lynch proposes a broad overhaul of the federal criminal justice system to restore the balance of power and retreat from the punitive indulgences of the War on Drugs.
Download or read book The Health Effects of Cannabis and Cannabinoids written by National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2017-03-31 with total page 487 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Significant changes have taken place in the policy landscape surrounding cannabis legalization, production, and use. During the past 20 years, 25 states and the District of Columbia have legalized cannabis and/or cannabidiol (a component of cannabis) for medical conditions or retail sales at the state level and 4 states have legalized both the medical and recreational use of cannabis. These landmark changes in policy have impacted cannabis use patterns and perceived levels of risk. However, despite this changing landscape, evidence regarding the short- and long-term health effects of cannabis use remains elusive. While a myriad of studies have examined cannabis use in all its various forms, often these research conclusions are not appropriately synthesized, translated for, or communicated to policy makers, health care providers, state health officials, or other stakeholders who have been charged with influencing and enacting policies, procedures, and laws related to cannabis use. Unlike other controlled substances such as alcohol or tobacco, no accepted standards for safe use or appropriate dose are available to help guide individuals as they make choices regarding the issues of if, when, where, and how to use cannabis safely and, in regard to therapeutic uses, effectively. Shifting public sentiment, conflicting and impeded scientific research, and legislative battles have fueled the debate about what, if any, harms or benefits can be attributed to the use of cannabis or its derivatives, and this lack of aggregated knowledge has broad public health implications. The Health Effects of Cannabis and Cannabinoids provides a comprehensive review of scientific evidence related to the health effects and potential therapeutic benefits of cannabis. This report provides a research agendaâ€"outlining gaps in current knowledge and opportunities for providing additional insight into these issuesâ€"that summarizes and prioritizes pressing research needs.
Download or read book Hard Drugs written by Celicia Scott and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2014-11-17 with total page 110 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Hard drugs like cocaine, heroin, LSD, and PCP can hurt your body and change the way your mind works. And it only takes trying these drugs once to put you at risk. Discover the true consequences of using the world's most dangerous drugs. Learn how hard drugs damage your mind and body, and how they can get you in trouble with the law. Find out about the downside of hard drugs!
Download or read book Hep cats Narcs and Pipe Dreams written by Jill Jonnes and published by JHU Press. This book was released on 1999 with total page 536 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Fascinating, well researched and finely honed... This is a must read." -- Judge Peggy F. Hora, California BenchOnce upon a time in America, morphine and cocaine were routinely sold in pharmacies, and "hop heads" gathered in shadowy basements to smoke opium. So begins Hep-Cats, Narcs, and Pipe Dreams, Jill Jonnes's ground-breaking history of illegal drugs in America. Jonnes vividly traces our first turn-of-the-century drug epidemic, successfully quelled, and then follows the story into the postwar era: starting in the jazz world of the northern cities and moving through the "flower power" 1960s to the cocaine and crack explosion of the 1980s and 1990s.
Download or read book Drugs Brains and Behavior written by and published by . This book was released on 2007 with total page 76 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Illegal Drugs Economy and Society in the Andes written by Francisco E. Thoumi and published by Woodrow Wilson Center Press. This book was released on 2003 with total page 442 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Table of contents
Download or read book Magnesium in the Central Nervous System written by Robert Vink and published by University of Adelaide Press. This book was released on 2011 with total page 354 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The brain is the most complex organ in our body. Indeed, it is perhaps the most complex structure we have ever encountered in nature. Both structurally and functionally, there are many peculiarities that differentiate the brain from all other organs. The brain is our connection to the world around us and by governing nervous system and higher function, any disturbance induces severe neurological and psychiatric disorders that can have a devastating effect on quality of life. Our understanding of the physiology and biochemistry of the brain has improved dramatically in the last two decades. In particular, the critical role of cations, including magnesium, has become evident, even if incompletely understood at a mechanistic level. The exact role and regulation of magnesium, in particular, remains elusive, largely because intracellular levels are so difficult to routinely quantify. Nonetheless, the importance of magnesium to normal central nervous system activity is self-evident given the complicated homeostatic mechanisms that maintain the concentration of this cation within strict limits essential for normal physiology and metabolism. There is also considerable accumulating evidence to suggest alterations to some brain functions in both normal and pathological conditions may be linked to alterations in local magnesium concentration. This book, containing chapters written by some of the foremost experts in the field of magnesium research, brings together the latest in experimental and clinical magnesium research as it relates to the central nervous system. It offers a complete and updated view of magnesiums involvement in central nervous system function and in so doing, brings together two main pillars of contemporary neuroscience research, namely providing an explanation for the molecular mechanisms involved in brain function, and emphasizing the connections between the molecular changes and behavior. It is the untiring efforts of those magnesium researchers who have dedicated their lives to unraveling the mysteries of magnesiums role in biological systems that has inspired the collation of this volume of work.
Download or read book Pathways of Addiction written by Institute of Medicine and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 1996-10-01 with total page 329 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Drug abuse persists as one of the most costly and contentious problems on the nation's agenda. Pathways of Addiction meets the need for a clear and thoughtful national research agenda that will yield the greatest benefit from today's limited resources. The committee makes its recommendations within the public health framework and incorporates diverse fields of inquiry and a range of policy positions. It examines both the demand and supply aspects of drug abuse. Pathways of Addiction offers a fact-filled, highly readable examination of drug abuse issues in the United States, describing findings and outlining research needs in the areas of behavioral and neurobiological foundations of drug abuse. The book covers the epidemiology and etiology of drug abuse and discusses several of its most troubling health and social consequences, including HIV, violence, and harm to children. Pathways of Addiction looks at the efficacy of different prevention interventions and the many advances that have been made in treatment research in the past 20 years. The book also examines drug treatment in the criminal justice setting and the effectiveness of drug treatment under managed care. The committee advocates systematic study of the laws by which the nation attempts to control drug use and identifies the research questions most germane to public policy. Pathways of Addiction provides a strategic outline for wise investment of the nation's research resources in drug abuse. This comprehensive and accessible volume will have widespread relevanceâ€"to policymakers, researchers, research administrators, foundation decisionmakers, healthcare professionals, faculty and students, and concerned individuals.
Download or read book Synthetic Cathinones written by Jolanta B. Zawilska and published by Springer. This book was released on 2018-04-16 with total page 215 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Over the last decade, and particularly during the recent five years, a rapidly increasing number of novel psychoactive substance (NPSs), often marketed as “designer drugs”, “legal highs”, “herbal highs”, “research or intermediate chemicals” and “laboratory reagents”, has appeared on the drug market in an effort to bypass controlled substance legislation. NPSs encompass a wide range of different compounds and drug classes but had been dominated by synthetic cannabinomimetics and psychostimulatory synthetic cathinones, so-called β-keto amphetamines. Compounds from the later class were first detected in Europe in 2004, and since then 103 new cathinones have been identified and reported to the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction, with 57 during the last two years. Synthetic cathinones – novel addictive and stimulatory psychoactive substances is the first publication of this kind that provides readers with background on chemical structures, detection, prevalence and motivation of use of the very popular group of NPSs. This book also presents comprehensive overview of the mechanisms of action, pharmacological activity, and main metabolic pathways of synthetic cathinones, followed by a detailed discussion of the acute and chronic toxicity associated with the use of these substances. Written by international experts in the field, this multi-authored book is a valuable reference not only for scientists, clinicians and academics, but also for readers representing different professional background who are involved in educational-prophylactic activities directed to harm reduction of psychoactive compounds.
Download or read book Medications for Opioid Use Disorder Save Lives written by National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2019-06-16 with total page 175 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The opioid crisis in the United States has come about because of excessive use of these drugs for both legal and illicit purposes and unprecedented levels of consequent opioid use disorder (OUD). More than 2 million people in the United States are estimated to have OUD, which is caused by prolonged use of prescription opioids, heroin, or other illicit opioids. OUD is a life-threatening condition associated with a 20-fold greater risk of early death due to overdose, infectious diseases, trauma, and suicide. Mortality related to OUD continues to escalate as this public health crisis gathers momentum across the country, with opioid overdoses killing more than 47,000 people in 2017 in the United States. Efforts to date have made no real headway in stemming this crisis, in large part because tools that already existâ€"like evidence-based medicationsâ€"are not being deployed to maximum impact. To support the dissemination of accurate patient-focused information about treatments for addiction, and to help provide scientific solutions to the current opioid crisis, this report studies the evidence base on medication assisted treatment (MAT) for OUD. It examines available evidence on the range of parameters and circumstances in which MAT can be effectively delivered and identifies additional research needed.
Download or read book The Geography Of Illegal Drugs written by George F Rengert and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2018-03-05 with total page 138 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The nightly news and other media provide a constant reminder of illegal drug transport over American borders and along routes between various U.S. cities. The general public is well aware that law enforcement efforts to address the foreign supply and trafficking of illegal drugs into the United States is an ongoing battle.This useful and readable compendium gives a fascinating account of how illegal drugs are transported into and around the United States and throughout its neighborhoods. Criminologist and geographer George F. Rengert takes a unique approach to the problem of illegal drug distribution and U.S. drug markets. Using maps and charts to illustrate his findings, Rengert applies spacial diffusion models to the illegal drug trade and explains why certain drugs are transported and found in different parts of the country. For example, the highest concentration of marijuana plants is not on either coast, but rather across the middle of the United States?throughout what is known as the corn belt. At the local level Rengert assesses the patterns and processes that interconnect drug sales and neighborhood deterioration and change.The book also addresses the important issues of how illegal drugs in this country operate on wholesale and retail levels and ways in which law enforcement at the federal, state, and local levels contend with this widespread problem. Using ethnographic material to provide real-life examples, Rengert explores how drug dealers on the street expand spatially and predictably in their neighborhoods. He illustrates how this knowledge helps law enforcement in efforts to get these drugs off the streets.
Download or read book Blitzed written by Norman Ohler and published by HarperCollins. This book was released on 2017-03-07 with total page 307 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A New York Times bestseller, Norman Ohler's Blitzed is a "fascinating, engrossing, often dark history of drug use in the Third Reich” (Washington Post). The Nazi regime preached an ideology of physical, mental, and moral purity. Yet as Norman Ohler reveals in this gripping history, the Third Reich was saturated with drugs: cocaine, opiates, and, most of all, methamphetamines, which were consumed by everyone from factory workers to housewives to German soldiers. In fact, troops were encouraged, and in some cases ordered, to take rations of a form of crystal meth—the elevated energy and feelings of invincibility associated with the high even help to account for the breakneck invasion that sealed the fall of France in 1940, as well as other German military victories. Hitler himself became increasingly dependent on injections of a cocktail of drugs—ultimately including Eukodal, a cousin of heroin—administered by his personal doctor. Thoroughly researched and rivetingly readable, Blitzed throws light on a history that, until now, has remained in the shadows. “Delightfully nuts.”—The New Yorker
