Download or read book Heroin User s Handbook written by Francis Moraes, Ph.D. and published by Ronin Publishing. This book was released on 2016-09-13 with total page 215 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Heroin is a fascinating drug to most people.It is often referred to as the “hardest drug.” By this logic, people might start with alcohol, work up to marijuana and maybe LSD. Then they reach to cocaine or methamphetamine. And finally, at the end of the journey is heroin. But like most things about heroin, this is more myth than reality. For non-users, this mythic power is exciting. And writers for the last century have been more than willing to pander to such readers in pulp and art novels all the way up to television crime novels. But it is rare for the most people to get a real look at what is, after all, the very core of what heroin is about for its users. To users, the interest is obvious. But ignorance of the the details of drug use among heroin users is rife — usually based on what the author calls “old junkie tales.” The difference between such folklore and the truth is often the difference between life and death. The Heroin User’s Handbook reveals the largely hidden world of heroin use based upon actual work with users and countless scholarly books and articles. And it does it in an extremely readable, non-technical manner — even while providing detained and accurate information. The book discusses all aspects of heroin use: the acquisition of drugs, the administration of them, health risks, legal issues, social aspects, and addiction and detox. It provides the non-heroin world with a detailed look inside a very rarefied subculture. But it also provides the those in the heroin using world life-saving information.

Download or read book The Life of the Heroin User written by Shane Darke and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2011-08-11 with total page 205 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Heroin is a worldwide scourge and a seemingly intractable one. The Life of the Heroin User: Typical Beginnings, Trajectories and Outcomes is the first book to apply a biographical approach to the lifecycle of the heroin user from birth until death. Chapters address each stage of the user's life, including childhood, routes to use, the development of dependence, problems arising from addiction, death and options for treatment and prevention. Drawing on over two decades of experience in the field of opiate research, Shane Darke examines major theoretical approaches to the development of opiate dependence and the efficacy of treatment options for opiate dependence. Key points are presented at the end of each chapter. The most detailed review available of what is likely to happen to the dependent heroin user, this is an important book for clinicians, researchers and students in the fields of drug and alcohol studies and public health.

Download or read book White Out written by Michael W. Clune and published by Hazelden Publishing. This book was released on 2013-03-19 with total page 274 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: White Out

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 Drug Users in Society written by Joanne Neale and published by Springer. This book was released on 2001-11-28 with total page 277 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book provides a candid insight into the lives of individuals who are addicted to heroin and other opiates. The processes of obtaining and using drugs are explored within the wider context of personal biographies and daily routines. Key issues considered include childhood experiences, crime and violence, housing situations, family relationships, prison life, health matters and drug treatments. Drug users' statements are related to policy, service provision, previous research, and theoretical debates in the hope that this might increase understanding and improve future responses to drug problems.

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 I Am a Heroin Addict written by Ritchie Farrell and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 2017-05-04 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "A work of compelling honesty. The writing is so powerful, so brutally sure of voice and experience that the reader is immediately jolted straight into the hellish existence of addiction." - Mary McGarry Morris, New York Times Bestselling Author "I am a Heroin Addict" was previously published as "What's Left of Us" by Kensington in 2009. However, there was no heroin epidemic at the time. Today, the opioid epidemic has become America's worst health crisis ever. Accidental drug overdoses killed more people in 2015 than HIV/AIDS at its 1995 peak. Heroin is a Beast, and that Beast has infiltrated every town and city in America. The Beast has come for your sons and daughters. The Beast is hunting for your fathers and mothers. And that Beast has only one mission, to bury as many Americans as possible. Farrell's ultimate goal is that his life story brings hope to all those suffering through the insidious trap of opioid addiction. "I am a Heroin Addict" is the story of how Ritchie Farrell survived a 10-bag-a-day heroin habit to become a bestselling author, WGA screenwriter, and recipient of the prestigious du-Pont-Columbia Award for excellence in journalism. "In the stripped-down, busted-and-back voice of a man with absolutely nothing left to hide, Farrell gives us this deeply moving tale of addiction and redemption. I am a Heroin Addict is a rush of blood to the head and heart, the kind that only true art can deliver." Andre Dubus III, New York Times Bestselling Author "How Ritchie Farrell survived his life, I'll never know." - Scott Silver, Academy Award Nominated Screenwriter of 8 Mile and The Fighter "A wild ride from start to finish. Riveting." - Chris Cooper, Academy Award Winning Actor "Ritchie Farrell's raw and visceral writing grabs you, slams you into the soul of an addict, and doesn't let go until you experience the courage it takes to wage a life-or-death war against your inner demons." Harry Ufland, Producer of The Last Temptation of Christ "It is a testament to Farrell's stunning writing power that he carries you on this rollercoaster ride of ugliness and beauty. Don't miss it." - Phyllis Karas, New York Times Bestselling Author

Download or read book Smack written by Eric C. Schneider and published by University of Pennsylvania Press. This book was released on 2013-04-19 with total page 277 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Why do the vast majority of heroin users live in cities? In his provocative history of heroin in the United States, Eric C. Schneider explains what is distinctively urban about this undisputed king of underworld drugs. During the twentieth century, New York City was the nation's heroin capital—over half of all known addicts lived there, and underworld bosses like Vito Genovese, Nicky Barnes, and Frank Lucas used their international networks to import and distribute the drug to cities throughout the country, generating vast sums of capital in return. Schneider uncovers how New York, as the principal distribution hub, organized the global trade in heroin and sustained the subcultures that supported its use. Through interviews with former junkies and clinic workers and in-depth archival research, Schneider also chronicles the dramatically shifting demographic profile of heroin users. Originally popular among working-class whites in the 1920s, heroin became associated with jazz musicians and Beat writers in the 1940s. Musician Red Rodney called heroin the trademark of the bebop generation. "It was the thing that gave us membership in a unique club," he proclaimed. Smack takes readers through the typical haunts of heroin users—52nd Street jazz clubs, Times Square cafeterias, Chicago's South Side street corners—to explain how young people were initiated into the drug culture. Smack recounts the explosion of heroin use among middle-class young people in the 1960s and 1970s. It became the drug of choice among a wide swath of youth, from hippies in Haight-Ashbury and soldiers in Vietnam to punks on the Lower East Side. Panics over the drug led to the passage of increasingly severe legislation that entrapped heroin users in the criminal justice system without addressing the issues that led to its use in the first place. The book ends with a meditation on the evolution of the war on drugs and addresses why efforts to solve the drug problem must go beyond eliminating supply.

Download or read book The Big Fix written by Tracey Helton Mitchell and published by Seal Press. This book was released on 2016-03-01 with total page 202 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: After surviving nearly a decade of heroin abuse and hard living on the streets of San Francisco’s Tenderloin District, Tracey Helton Mitchell decided to get clean for good. With raw honesty and a poignant perspective on life that only comes from starting at rock bottom, The Big Fix tells her story of transformation from homeless heroin addict to stable mother of three—and the hard work and hard lessons that got her there. Rather than dwelling on the pain of addiction, Tracey focuses on her journey of recovery and rebuilding her life, while exposing the failings of the American rehab system and laying out a path for change. Starting with the first step in her recovery, Tracey re-learns how to interact with men, build new friendships, handle money, and rekindle her relationship with her mother, all while staying sober, sharp, and dedicated to her future. A decidedly female story of addiction, The Big Fix describes the unique challenges faced by women caught in the grip of substance abuse, such as the toxic connection between drug addition and prostitution. Tracey’s story of hope, hard work, and rehabilitation will inspire anyone who has been affected by substance abuse while offering hope for a better future.

Download or read book The Little Book of Heroin written by Francis Moreas and published by Ronin Publishing. This book was released on 2000-03-31 with total page 98 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Many people believe that everyone who uses heroin is addicted. In fact, this is true of only about 20 percent of heroin users. By clearing up common misconceptions like these, this book provides information that can save the lives of people using the drug. The author recounts heroin's history, details its chemistry, tells what users need to know to avoid addiction, and demystifies the life of a user: from buying to administering to detoxing and staying clean.

Download or read book We Are the Family of a Heroin Addict written by T. I. Ridic and published by iUniverse. This book was released on 2018-07-20 with total page 123 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is the story of a family in a small community whose journey of life took a severe turn when the eldest child discloses her nine-year heroin addiction. This disclosure sets into place a whirlwind change in all family dynamics as each member tries to acknowledge their emotions and new roles to support staying strong and connected to one another. It is also a book that illustrates the difficulty of staying together as a family in the face of the lack of being in sync with one anothers emotional and intellectual reactions. We have tried to be as real as possible with our anger, frustration, disappointment, happiness, pride, and amazement on how this part of our lives has turned out. It is not something we asked for, but it is something we have conquered. This is a story of losing and winning the pathway of recovery from both a family and individual perspective. Each chapter talks from an individual family members reality of what is going on, and it ends with the daughter who has/had the heroin addiction and her perspective of the family. We have added updates at the end to try to create an ending of sorts, knowing we will still be here over the next years fighting the good battle of sobriety as a family who has made it and stayed together through the addiction storm.

Download or read book Hooked on Heroin written by Philip Lalander and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2020-05-18 with total page 205 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Alarmingly, heroin is growing in popularity amongst young people. This is despite the fact that it is - more than any other drug - associated with failure, death, misery and poverty. This book explores why people are tempted by heroin and how globalization has played a key role in increasing the number of abusers. Rather than offer lofty and abstract theories on addiction, the author grounds his study firmly in the day-to-day lives of heroin users themselves. Norrköping in Sweden is a mid-sized former industrial city like countless others throughout the world. It has suffered high unemployment as a result of its rapid decline as a hub of commerce. Once well known for housing the giant telecommunications company Ericsson, it sadly gains more notoriety today through its associations with heroin, which continues to be the drug of choice for Norrköping's young people. Through privileged access to users themselves, Lalander is able to show us the real motivations and lifestyle choices behind addiction. Personal testimonies candidly expose the underground activities of a thriving subculture and spark vexing questions as to why these young people choose to flirt with fatality. What media representations influence heroin users? Is this phenomenon the inevitable by-product of modern life? What are the root causes at play?Lalander's in-depth investigation overturns many of the stereotypes associated with heroin use. Accessible and gripping, Hooked on Heroin brings a disturbing reality closer to home and shows how global and local practices are intimately linked.

Download or read book The Truth About Heroin written by Philip Wolny and published by The Rosen Publishing Group, Inc. This book was released on 2013-12-15 with total page 66 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: There is currently a heroin epidemic afflicting North America, and it is not confined only to urban areas or to older, seasoned drug addicts. The latest epidemic has swamped suburban and rural areas and drawn many teens into its deadly wake. The drug can take over the lives of even first-time or casual users. Addiction makes slaves of heroin users and often leads to a life of sickness, crime, and regret. Addicts risk sacrificing everything they cherish in their lives for the drug, receiving jail time for drug-related offenses, and losing their own lives in the process. Discovering how the drug destroys the brain and body of a user, and how addiction devastates the lives it touches, can help one make the decision to avoid heroin at all costs. That is exactly what the information presented here achieves--readers will come away shaken, with a new and stark understanding of heroin's true toxicity and its utterly false and destructive allure.

Download or read book Addicts Who Survived written by David T. Courtwright and published by Univ. of Tennessee Press. This book was released on 2013-01-25 with total page 433 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The authors employ the techniques of oral history to penetrate the nether world of the drug user, giving us an engrossing portrait of life in the drug subculture during the "classic" era of strict narcotic control. Praise for the hardcover edition: "A momentous book which I feel is destined to become a classic in the category of scholarly narcotic books." —Claude Brown, author of the bestseller, Manchild in the Promised Land. "The drug literature is filled with the stereotyped opinions of non-addicted, middle-class pundits who have had little direct contact with addicts. These stories are reality. Narcotic addicts of the inner cities are both tough and gentle, deceptive when necessary and yet often generous--above all, shrewd judges of character. While judging them, the clinician is also being judged." —Vincent P. Dole, M.D., The Rockefeller Institute. "What was it like to be a narcotic addict during the Anslinger era? No book will probably ever appear that gives a better picture than this one. . . . a singularly readable and informative work on a subject ordinarily buried in clichés and stereotypes." —Donald W. Goodwin, Journal of the American Medical Association " . . . an important contribution to the growing body of literature that attempts to more clearly define the nature of drug addiction. . . . [This book] will appeal to a diverse audience. Academicians, politicians, and the general reader will find this approach to drug addiction extremely beneficial, insightful, and instructive. . . . Without qualification anyone wishing to acquire a better understanding of drug addicts and addiction will benefit from reading this book." —John C. McWilliams, Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography "This study has much to say to a general audience, as well as those involved in drug control." —Publishers Weekly "The authors' comments are perceptive and the interviews make interesting reading." —John Duffy, Journal of American History "This book adds a vital and often compelling human dimension to the story of drug use and law enforcement. The material will be of great value to other specialists, such as those interested in the history of organized crime and of outsiders in general." —H. Wayne Morgan, Journal of Southern History "This book represents a significant and valuable addition to the contemporary substance abuse literature. . . . this book presents findings from a novel and remarkably imaginative research approach in a cogent and exceptionally informative manner." —William M. Harvey, Journal of Psychoactive Drugs "This is a good and important book filled with new information containing provocative elements usually brought forth through the touching details of personal experience. . . . There isn't a recollection which isn't of intrinsic value and many point to issues hardly ever broached in more conventional studies." —Alan Block, Journal of Social History

Download or read book Pain Management and the Opioid Epidemic written by National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2017-09-28 with total page 483 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Drug overdose, driven largely by overdose related to the use of opioids, is now the leading cause of unintentional injury death in the United States. The ongoing opioid crisis lies at the intersection of two public health challenges: reducing the burden of suffering from pain and containing the rising toll of the harms that can arise from the use of opioid medications. Chronic pain and opioid use disorder both represent complex human conditions affecting millions of Americans and causing untold disability and loss of function. In the context of the growing opioid problem, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) launched an Opioids Action Plan in early 2016. As part of this plan, the FDA asked the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine to convene a committee to update the state of the science on pain research, care, and education and to identify actions the FDA and others can take to respond to the opioid epidemic, with a particular focus on informing FDA's development of a formal method for incorporating individual and societal considerations into its risk-benefit framework for opioid approval and monitoring.

Download or read book Heroin written by Philip Wolny and published by The Rosen Publishing Group, Inc. This book was released on 2019-12-15 with total page 48 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the fast-paced, modern world, social media and other forces often combine to spread disinformation and rumors about life-threatening social ills. The current heroin epidemic, which is part of a larger opioid crisis has dominated headlines lately. Amid this confusing coverage, young readers need straightforward, trustworthy sources to give them hard facts and cautionary tales about how this deadly drug can ravage their lives. Lively, engaging language, evocative imagery, and careful vetting of the latest information make this book an essential resource for educators, school counselors, and students themselves, guided by understanding and compassion over fear and hearsay.

Download or read book Black Tar written by Stephen E. Crockett and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 2017-10-29 with total page 286 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Black Tar is an autobiographical look at the use of black tar heroin and the toll it takes on the addict and his surroundings. It is written from an addict's perspective and details the day to day existence of one junkie as he lives from fix to fix and watches as his life spirals into uncontrollable drug addiction. From alcoholism, pills, and cocaine to black tar heroin. His attempts to free himself and live a sober life are always half-hearted at best and so his casual drug use spirals from a clean life, with a job and the hope of a family to a heroin addict; homeless, living hand to mouth - unemployed and desperate on the streets. In this smack tinted world, the extremes for a junkie are simple: Heroin abuse and death by overdose. This book deals with drug abuse and drug addiction. Especially Black Tar heroin. Also known as smack, junk, boy, and girl. It also deals with heroin withdrawal and follows our main man as he suffers through his share of both. Ultimately he finds himself dangling between the heroin that will kill him and sobriety.