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“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.
The study of addiction is dominated by a narrow disease ideology that leads to biological reductionism. In this short volume, editors Granfield and Reinarman make clear the importance of a more balanced contextual approach to addiction by bringing to light critical perspectives that expose the historical and cultural interstices in which the disease concept of addiction is constructed and deployed. The readings selected for this anthology include both classic foundational pieces and cutting-edge contemporary works that constitute critical addiction studies. This book is a welcome addition to drugs or addiction courses in sociology, criminal justice, mental health, clinical psychology, social work, and counseling.
Drugs and Empires introduces new research from a range of historians that re-evaluates the relationship between intoxicants and empires in the modern world. It re-examines controversies about such issues as the Asian opium trade or the sale of alcohol in Africa. It addresses new areas of research, including the impact of imperial drugs profits on American history, or the place of African states in the development of international regulations. The outcome is to provoke new perspectives on both drugs and empires.
Author : William O. Walker Publisher : Penn State Press Page : 189 pages File Size : 45,6 MB Release : 2004-05-01 Category : Political Science ISBN : 0271044640
A detailed look at drug control policy as it has been shaped historically in the United States and other countries, most notably in China and East Asia. Drug policy has emphasized suppressing drugs at their source by curtailing their distribution, but few policy makers have considered legalization as a remedy. On the other hand, much of drug policy has been a record of bureaucratic infighting and aggrandizement. At the same time, it has reflected nativistic and racial biases. These essays suggest, however, that alternative strategies would not necessarily be any more successful. David Courtwright argues that legalization of drugs would create its own problems. Given the nature of federal policy, institutional structures, and social mores, the authors question whether drug policy could have been otherwise constructed. William O. Walker has brought together leading scholars writing in the field to contribute essays that offer broad perspectives on the history of drug policy. They provide a comparative and historical lens through which to view the current debate over drug policy in the United States.
Through the vivid, true stories of five people who journeyed into and out of addiction, a renowned neuroscientist explains why the "disease model" of addiction is wrong and illuminates the path to recovery. The psychiatric establishment and rehab industry in the Western world have branded addiction a brain disease. But in The Biology of Desire, cognitive neuroscientist and former addict Marc Lewis makes a convincing case that addiction is not a disease, and shows why the disease model has become an obstacle to healing. Lewis reveals addiction as an unintended consequence of the brain doing what it's supposed to do-seek pleasure and relief-in a world that's not cooperating. As a result, most treatment based on the disease model fails. Lewis shows how treatment can be retooled to achieve lasting recovery. This is enlightening and optimistic reading for anyone who has wrestled with addiction either personally or professionally.
The essays in this collection represent Aleister Crowley's ideas and meditations on drugs. Part One explores Crowley's experiences with hashish and its uses in mystical rituals. Part Two examines cocaine and looks at whether it should be regulated by law. Finally, Part Three delves into the sensuality of absinthe and its role in society.
Before the United Kingdom's Dangerous Drugs Act of 1920, many of today's illicit substances, including cocaine, were readily available in British pharmacies as over-the-counter medication, either in pure form or as an active ingredient in any number of cure-alls and remedies. During this time, Aleister Crowley ingested a variety of mind-altering substances and wrote about his experiences in detail, usually in the magazine The International, where he argued for "constructive morality" in place of legislation which he deemed repressive. Essays on Intoxication presents the best of these writings together for the first time in one volume: The Psychology of Hashish, Cocaine, Absinthe the Green Goddess, The Drug Panic, The Great Drug Delusion and Ethyl Oxide.
A Dostoevskian psychological novel of ideas, Novel with Cocaine explores the interaction between psychology, philosophy, and ideology in its frank portrayal of an adolescent's cocaine addiction. The story relates the formative experiences of Vadim at school and with women before he turns to drug abuse and the philosophical reflections to which it gives rise. Although Ageyev makes little explicit reference to the Revolution, the novel's obsession with addictive forms of thinking finds resonance in the historical background, in which "our inborn feelings of humanity and justice" provoke "the cruelties and satanic transgressions committed in its name.