Is Santa Claus really a magic mushroom in disguise? Was Alice in Wonderland a thinly veiled psychedelic mushroom odyssey? Did mushroom tea kick-start ancient Greek philosophy? The 'magic mushroom' was only rediscovered fifty years ago, but has accumulated all sorts of folktales and urban legends along the way. In this timely and definitive study, Andy Letcher strips away the myths to get at the true story of how hallucinogenic mushrooms, once shunned in the West as the most pernicious of poisons, came to be the illicit drug of choice.

First published in 1996. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

Relapse prevention, though relatively new, is becoming established as a foremost technique for treating people with addiction problems. All other available literature on relapse prevention is theoretical in nature, and this book fulfils the need for a practical manual showing how therapists should carry out this form of treatment. It is based on the actual experience of the authors in using relapse prevention methods and provides working details on the different topics to be covered in each group of individual sessions. "Homework" assignments are also provided and a chapter devoted to "Trouble Shooting" - how to deal with the potential problems encountered in each type of therapy.

Reviews of the first edition: "Factual and straightforward.... Recommended"--Library Journal; "most impressive...clarity and concise...highly thought-provoking"--Muscular Development; "a careful exploration of the chemistry and physiology of testosterone...must reading for the serious bodybuilder"--Southern Bodybuilder; "extremely well documented"--Track & Field News. The first edition of this work, published in 1982, concentrated on the athletes use of and the physicians knowledge of, anabolic steroids. This fully updated second edition discusses the continuing controversy over their use in competitive sports. An introduction of the use and abuse of anabolic steroids is followed by chapters on such topics as anabolic steroid compounds, the anabolic-to-androgen ratio, basic principles of muscle building, current anabolic steroid preparations, anabolic steroid regimes used by athletes, the enhancement of athletic performance, adverse physical effects and mental health risks, the classification of anabolic steroids as controlled substances, growth hormones and other anabolic hormones, the limits of urine drug testing, medical applications of anabolic steroids, muscle building and ergogenic supplements, and addictions.

Cigarette Wars is a meticulously researched, engagingly written history of the first anti-cigarette movement in America, 1880 to 1930, when cigarettes were both legally restricted and socially stigmatized. Progressive reformers and religious fundamentalists often came together to condemn smoking, but their efforts failed after the First World War, when millions of soldiers smoked and smoking began to be associated with freedom and modernity. Early anti-cigarette movement activities articulated virtually every issue that is still being debated about smoking today. Theirs was not a failure of determination but of timing.

Today, more than ever before, we have available to us a large body of knowledge about how to reach and influence youth, even high-risk youth and families, that help them build resiliency. Building Healthy Individuals, Families, and Communities describes a program, Creating Lasting Family Connections, which is based on COPES' successful demonstration program, Creating Lasting Connections (CLC). CLC, a research demonstration project, was designed as an ecumenical, community based program that focused on increasing community, family and individual (youth) protective factors that would lead to delaying the onset and reducing the frequency of alcohol and other drug use among at-risk 12-14 year olds. CLC received the Center for Substance Abuse Prevention's Exemplary Prevention Program Award for 1994 and CLFC received this honor in 1999; CLC has been included in the International Youth Foundation's YouthNet International, a directory of the most effective youth programs worldwide; finally, it was selected as one of only seven model prevention programs by the Center for Substance Abuse Prevention for national dissemination. While the program focuses on alcohol and other drug-related issues and outcomes, much of this approach is applicable to youth and families across a larger spectrum of issues and behaviors, including violence and inappropriate sexual behavior.

At the beginning of the twenty-first century, Brazil ranked second only to the United States in the number of reported cases of AIDS. Because Brazil's extensive poverty and inequality, its fragile economic situation, and its limited network of health services, the scarce prevention/intervention resources targeted only the most visible at risk populations -- gay men, sailors, prostitutes, and street children. Virtually forgotten were Brazil's hidden drug users, as well as the tens of millions of individuals living in the country's thousands of favelas, or shantytowns, which are a characteristic part of almost every Brazilian city. In Sex, Drugs, and HIV/AIDS in Brazil the authors examine the emergence of AIDS in Brazil, its linkages to drug use and the sexual culture, and its epidemiology in such populations as cocaine users, "street children," and male transvestite prostitutes. Special attention is focused on an HIV/AIDS community outreach program established in Rio de Janeiro, which represented the first such prevention/intervention program in all of Brazil targeting indigent cocaine users. This 6-year initiative was funded by the U.S. National Institute on Drug Abuse, and carried out by the authors of this book. The research combines anthropological, sociological, and biological perspectives; all data were gathered through empirical and ethnographic techniques.

The American Disease is a classic study of the development of drug laws in the U.S. Supporting the theory that Americans' attitudes toward drugs have followed a cyclic pattern of tolerance and restraint, author David Musto examines the relations between public outcry and the creation of prohibitive drug laws from the end of the Civil War to the present day. Originally published in 1973, with an expanded edition in 1987, this third edition contains a new chapter and preface that cover the renewed debate on policy and drug legislation from the end of the Reagan administration to the present Clinton administration.

This book offers a comprehensive, yet condensed, overview of this enormous field of study in an attempt to help readers in the field of human health understand the different facets of this ever-growing problem. It provides detailed discussions that include the history,chemistry, biology, epidemiology, and salient characteristics of the most important substances of abuse. The authors provide clear and comprehensive explanations of available treatment options and address important social issues connected to substance abuse. The book is an important source of practical, up-to-the minute information, making it a necessity for anyone who must have ready access to accurate, concise information regarding substance abuse.

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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.

Preventing Substance Abuse is an informal guide to successful programs for treating specific substance abuse problems, identifying their origins, implementation, outcomes, and, where possible, contacts for obtaining additional information. The emphasis is on information documented from outcomes of successful interventions rather than on theories of what should work or what works under experimental conditions. Key features include easy-to-follow charts and graphs and an appendix summarizing the National Structured Evaluation (mandated by Congress) of substance abuse prevention.

After arriving from South Asia approximately a thousand years ago, cannabis quickly spread throughout the African continent. European accounts of cannabis in Africa-often fictionalized and reliant upon racial stereotypes-shaped widespread myths about the plant and were used to depict the continent as a cultural backwater and Africans as predisposed to drug use. These myths continue to influence contemporary thinking about cannabis. In The African Roots of Marijuana, Chris S. Duvall corrects common misconceptions while providing an authoritative history of cannabis as it flowed into, throughout, and out of Africa. Duvall shows how preexisting smoking cultures in Africa transformed the plant into a fast-acting and easily dosed drug and how it later became linked with global capitalism and the slave trade. People often used cannabis to cope with oppressive working conditions under colonialism, as a recreational drug, and in religious and political movements. This expansive look at Africa's importance to the development of human knowledge about marijuana will challenge everything readers thought they knew about one of the world's most ubiquitous plants.

Recognition of the relationship between alcohol abuse and adverse prenatal outcomes is reflected in the warning labels on every alcoholic beverage sold in the United States. Because alcohol abuse has serious consequences for both individuals and society as a whole, much research has been devoted to this problem. Fetal Alcohol Syndrome provides straightforward facts regarding the impact of alcohol consumption as it affects the development of the embryo and fetus. Surveying current research of fetal alcohol syndrome and its related problems, the book addresses the immediate effects on development at various stages. Long-term action of prenatal alcohol exposure later in life is also considered. A chapter devoted to assessing the behavior of children who were prenatally exposed to alcohol emphasizes the necessity of longitudinal studies of fetal alcohol syndrome. This important reference offers a thorough overview of a problem that cannot be ignored.

The lure of drugs and alcohol is capturing today's youth in its fatal grip and may ultimately destroy our nation's future generations. The vicious cycle of abuse is one that parents, teachers, counselors, and other citizens decry on a daily basis. Dr. Thomas Milhorn, an expert on adolescent drug abuse, provides crucial information on all the major drugs of abuse - including depressants, narcotics, stimulants, cannabinoids, inhalants, steroids, and hallucinogens - and their lethal consequences. Dr. Milhorn contends that in order to confront the monster that is destroying our children's health and quality of life, we must first understand the psyche of drug and alcohol abusers and the natural progression of the disease of addiction. This respected physician and physiologist reveals the harmful combinations currently in vogue in the drug world and the shortand long-term effects they have on the body, and discusses ways to recognize and pinpoint the telltale signs of a user. He explores the question of why adolescents abuse drugs, as well as special issues affecting young female addicts. This powerful book also examines the fatal relationship between drugs and AIDS, and includes a brief history of AIDS, and lifesaving advice on AIDS prevention. Dr. Milhorn skillfully assesses the various inpatient and outpatient treatment choices. He realistically portrays the intense physical and emotional stages the user will pass through before becoming drug free, as well as the stresses placed upon families during the recovery process. As this valuable book relates, both parents and teachers have clearly defined roles, and each can use his or her own brand of influence to aid the adolescent on the journey back to a healthy mind and body. Finally, Dr. Milhorn presents a list of successful options available if a first treatment attempt should fail. We live in a society wh ere 12-year-olds are budding alcoholics and children are bombarded in school hallways with solicitations to ex

Methamphetamine: A Love Story presents an insider's view of the world of methamphetamine based on the life stories of thirty-three adults formerly immersed in using, dealing, and manufacturing meth in rural Oklahoma. Using a respectful tone towards her subjects, Shukla illuminates their often decades-long love affair with the drug, the attractions of the lifestyle, the eventual unsustainability of it, and the challenges of exiting the life. These personal stories reveal how and why people with limited economic means and inadequate resources become entrapped in the drug epidemic, while challenging longstanding societal views about addiction, drugs, drug policy, and public health.

From the 1950s 'girl junkie' to the 1990s 'crack mom', Using Women investigates how the cultural representations of women drug users have defined America's drug policies in this century. In analyzing the public's continued fear, horror and outrage wrought by the specter of women using drugs, Nancy Campbell demonstrates the importance that public opinion and popular culture have played in regulating women's lives. The book will chronicle the history of women and drug use, provide a critical policy analysis of the government's drug policies and offer recommendations for the direction our current drug policies should take. Using Women includes such chapters as 'Sex, Drugs and Race in the Age of Dope'; 'Regulating Adolescents in the Postwar US'; 'Fifties Femininity'; and 'Regulating Maternal Instinct'.

Why do so many people feel compelled to drink alcohol or take drugs? And why do so many men drink and so many women refrain? Using ideas from social anthropology, this book attempts to provide a novel answer to these questions. The introduction surveys both gender and addiction. It points out that we cannot say what men or women are really like, in any culturally innocent sense, for gender is always, even in the realm of biology, a cultural matter. The ethnographic chapters, ranging from Ancient Rome to modern Japan, similarly suggest how any substance - from alcohol to tea to heroin - inevitably takes its meaning or reality in the cultural system in which it exists.
This book will be of interest to medical anthropologists, medical sociologists, anyone with an interest in the contemporary direction of anthropology as well as those working in the fields of alcohol and addiction.

Why do so many people feel compelled to drink alcohol or take drugs? And why do so many men drink and so many women refrain? Using ideas from social anthropology, this book attempts to provide a novel answer to these questions. The introduction surveys both gender and addiction. It points out that we cannot say what men or women are really like, in any culturally innocent sense, for gender is always, even in the realm of biology, a cultural matter. The ethnographic chapters, ranging from Ancient Rome to modern Japan, similarly suggest how any substance - from alcohol to tea to heroin - inevitably takes its meaning or reality in the cultural system in which it exists.
This book will be of interest to medical anthropologists, medical sociologists, anyone with an interest in the contemporary direction of anthropology as well as those working in the fields of alcohol and addiction.

This volume represents a landmark in the important and rapidly expanding literature of cross-cultural epidemiology that has been made possible by the worldwide popularity of the DSM-III and the multi-national use of a single survey instrument: the Diagnostic Interview Schedule (DIS). Reviewing population survey findings across ten regions of North America, Europe, and Asia, this study is the first direct cross-national comparison of personal interview data on alcoholism, including prevalence rates and risk factors. The book carefully describes the background of the various surveys and the methods of analysis and comparison. Chapters on each region describe the prevalence of drinking problems, the symptomatic expression of alcoholism in that culture, aspects of the cultural background that are relevant to drinking behavior, and the association between alcoholism and other psychiatric disorders. Of particular importance in this volume is the inclusion of a chapter on alcoholism in the Socialist Republic of China, from which very little scientific information has been readily available. The inclusion of eastern and western cultural perspectives offers insight into both universal and culturally distinct aspects of alcoholism. The volume is essential reading for psychiatrists, epidemiologists, sociologists, and alcohol theorists, researchers and clinicians.

This volume unearths the emerging pattern of consumption of opium in colonial Assam and the creation of drug-dependency in a social context. It analyses the competing forces of the empire which played a key role in the production and distribution of opium; national politics alongside international drug diplomacy and how these together shaped the discourse of opium in Assam; the wider implications of opium production and consumption in the agrarian economy and the narrative of the nationalist critique of intoxication. Please note: Taylor & Francis does not sell or distribute the Hardback in India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

Addiction to illicit drugs is a pressing social concern across greater China, where there are likely several million drug addicts at present. This research breaks new ground by examining Chinese people's stories of drug addiction. Chinese Stories of Drug Addiction systematically evaluates how drug addiction is represented and constructed in a series of contemporary life stories and filmic stories from mainland China, Taiwan and Hong Kong. These stories recount experiences leading up to and during drug addiction, as well as experiences during drug rehabilitation and recovery. Through analysis of these contemporary life stories and filmic stories, the book presents a comprehensive picture of how Chinese people from both inside the experience of drug addiction and outside of it make sense of a social practice that is deemed to be highly transgressive in Chinese culture. It employs a blended discourse analytic and narrative analytic approach to show how salient cultural, political and institutional discourses shape these Chinese stories and experiences. Complementing existing humanities research which documents the historical narrative of drug addiction in China at the expense of the contemporary narrative, the book also provides health and allied professionals with a rich insight into how Chinese people from different geographical locations and walks of life make sense of the experience of drug addiction. Moving beyond historical narrative to examine contemporary stories, Chinese Stories of Drug Addiction offers a valuable contribution to the fields of Chinese studies and personal health and wellbeing, as well as being of practical use to health professionals.

Drinking and drunkenness have become a focal point for political and media debates to contest notions of responsibility, discipline and risk; yet, at the same time, academic studies have highlighted the positive aspects of drinking in relation to sociability, belonging and identity. These issues are at the heart of this volume, which brings together the work of academics and researchers exploring social and cultural aspects of contemporary drinking practices. These drinking practices are enormously varied and are spatially and culturally defined. The contributions to the volume draw on research settings from across the UK and beyond to demonstrate both the complexity and diversity of drinking subjectivities and practices. Across these examples tensions relating to gender, social class, age and the life course are particularly prominent. Rather than align to now long-established moral discourses about what constitutes 'good' and 'bad' drinking, sociological approaches to alcohol foreground the vivid, lived, nature of alcohol consumption and the associated experiences of drunkenness and intoxication. In doing so, the volume illuminates the controversial yet important social and cultural roles played by drink for individuals and groups across a range of social contexts.

"Bennett and Holloway's Understanding Drugs, Alcohol, and Crime isthe best, most up-to-date and comprehensive examination for theUnited Kingdom of interactions among drugs, alcohol, and crime. Theauthors exhaustively and authoritatively survey current knowledge inthe UK, and from many other countries, on drug and alcohol use ascause, and consequence, of crime, and the effects of law enforcementand treatment responses. Clearly written, unfailingly lucid, andadmirably accurate, this book will be the indispensable work onBritish drug policy for many years to come." Professor Michael Tonry, University of Minnesota Law School, USA"What makes this book particularly interesting is the refreshingly non judgmental presentation which conveys the essence of very important issues in contemporary society. Therefore, this is an ideal text not only for students but also for policy makers, drugs and alcohol counsellors, treatment agencies and everyone interested in doing research on drugs, alcohol and crime." Nicoletta Policek, University of Abertay, Dundee "The publication is not only an excellent summary of the existing research in Great Britain, and to a lesser extent from other jurisdictions, it is a foundation for future research by evoking , and at times provoking, questions and offering a variety of possible responses." Hirsch Greenberg, University of Regina What is the connection between drugs, alcohol and crime? What works in reducing drugs and alcohol-related crime? The book provides a succinct overview of current theory and research on the links between drugs, alcohol use and crime. It discusses the legal and social context of drug and alcohol use and identifies current levels of consumption. Focusing on the UK context, it also takes into account international research where appropriate. Detailed review of the research literature on the connections between drug use and crime Examines the current government anti-drugs policy and assesses the effectiveness of programmes that have been used to reduce drug and alcohol-related crime. The book concludes that future government drugs policy should pay particular attention to the lessons learned from research on the connection between drug and alcohol use and crime. Ideal for criminology, criminal justice, social policy and social work students, this book will also be a useful source of information for policy makers, the police, probation workers, social workers, drugs and alcohol counsellors, treatment agencies, sentencers, voluntary agencies, Drug Action Teams, and others with an interest in research on drugs and crime.

Methamphetamine: A Love Story presents an insider's view of the world of methamphetamine based on the life stories of thirty-three adults formerly immersed in using, dealing, and manufacturing meth in rural Oklahoma. Using a respectful tone towards her subjects, Shukla illuminates their often decades-long love affair with the drug, the attractions of the lifestyle, the eventual unsustainability of it, and the challenges of exiting the life. These personal stories reveal how and why people with limited economic means and inadequate resources become entrapped in the drug epidemic, while challenging longstanding societal views about addiction, drugs, drug policy, and public health.