With debates surrounding the decriminalisation of certain illegal drugs raging in many countries around the world, this new book is a timely and sober reflection on one of the biggest social problems facing the world at large. Of interest not only to economists, but also to criminologists and those involved in policy-making, The Economics of Illegal Drugs is an accessible, comprehensive and international review of the topic and the usefulness of applying microeconomic analysis to drug production and distribution.

In the midst of national concern over illicit drug use and abuse, prescription drug abuse has been identified as the United States' fastest growing drug problem. Nearly all prescription drugs involved in overdoses are originally prescribed by a physician (rather than, for example, being stolen from pharmacies). Thus, attention has been directed toward preventing the diversion of prescription drugs after the prescriptions are dispensed. Prescription drug monitoring programs (PDMPs) maintain statewide electronic databases of prescriptions dispensed for controlled substances. This book provides an overview of PDMPs with a focus on supporting access to legitimate medical use of controlled substances; identifying or preventing drug abuse and diversion; facilitating the identification of prescription drug-addicted individuals and enabling intervention and treatment; and outlining and educating the public on drug use and abuse trends to inform public health initiatives.

Adolescents in Public Housing incorporates data from multiple public-housing sites in large U.S. cities to shine much-needed light on African American youth living in non-HOPE VI public-housing neighborhoods. With findings grounded in research, the book gives practitioners and policy makers a solid grasp of the attitudes toward deviance, alcohol and drug abuse, and depressive symptoms characterizing these communities, and links them explicitly to gaps in policy and practice. A long-overdue study of a system affecting not just a minority of children but the American public at large, Adolescents in Public Housing initiates new, productive paths for research on this vulnerable population and contributes to preventive interventions that may improve the lives of affected youth.

Synthetic drugs, as opposed to natural drugs, are chemically produced in a laboratory. Their chemical structure can be either identical to or different from naturally occurring drugs, and their effects are designed to mimic or even enhance those of natural drugs. When produced clandestinely, they are not typically controlled pharmaceutical substances intended for legitimate medical use. Designer drugs are a form of synthetic drugs. They contain slightly modified molecular structures of illegal or controlled substances, and they are modified in order to circumvent existing drug laws. While the issue of synthetic drugs and their abuse is not new, the 112th Congress has demonstrated a renewed concern with the issues. This book provides an overview of current trends in select synthetic cannabinoids and stimulants, and reviews relevant legislation in the 112th Congress as well as issues for policy-makers.

Charles Monroe-Kane is a natural raconteur, and boy, does he have stories to tell. Born into an eccentric Ohio clan of modern hunter-gatherers, he grew up hearing voices in his head. Over a dizzying two decades, he was many things-teenage faith healer, world traveler, smuggler, liberation theologian, ladder-maker, squatter, halibut hanger, grifter, environmental warrior, and circus manager-all the while wrestling with schizophrenia and self-medication. From Baby Doc's Haiti to the Czech Velvet Revolution, and from sex, drugs, and a stabbing to public humiliation by the leader of the free world, Monroe-Kane burns through his twenties and several bridges of youthful idealism before finally saying: enough. In a memoir that blends engaging charm with unflinching frankness, Monroe-Kane gives his testimony of mental illness, drug abuse, faith, and love. By the end of Lithium Jesus there may be a voice in your head, too, saying "Do more, be more, live more. And fear less."

It has long been known that some people, usually those with eating disorders, or on their way to having one, abuse drugs that are specifically designed for, or have a side effect that leads to, weight loss. It appears that there is an increased prevalence for people to take pharmacological treatments to aid weight loss or maintenance. These people are not like our previous sample as they have no form of psychopathology. What was once thought to be the remit of the eating disordered individual and a sign of serious psychological dysfunction has become the playground of the norm. This book discussed the reasons behind why people are taking them and how they work. Moreover, the author aims to arm people with the knowledge that will defend them from the diet drug vendors who are now pervasive across the Internet and thus our society.

Takes the recent wave of German autobiographical writing on illness and disability seriously as literature, demonstrating the value of a literary disability studies approach. In the German-speaking world there has been a new wave - intensifying since 2007 - of autobiographically inspired writing on illness and disability, death and dying. Nina Schmidt's book takes this writing seriously as literature,examining how the authors of such personal narratives come to write of their experiences between the poles of cliche and exceptionality. Identifying shortcomings in the approaches taken thus far to such texts, she makes suggestions as to how to better read their narratives from the stance of literary scholarship, then demonstrates the value of a literary disability studies approach to such writing with close readings of Charlotte Roche's Schossgebete(2011), Kathrin Schmidt's Du stirbst nicht (2009), Verena Stefan's Fremdschlafer (2007), and - in the final, comparative chapter - Christoph Schlingensief's So schoen wie hier kanns im Himmel gar nicht sein! Tagebuch einer Krebserkrankung (2009) and Wolfgang Herrndorf's blog-cum-book Arbeit und Struktur (2010-13). Schmidt shows that authors dealing with illness and disability do so with an awareness of their precarious subject position in the public eye, a position they negotiate creatively. Writing the liminal experience of serious illness along the borders of genre, moving between fictional and autobiographical modes, they carve out spaces from which they speak up and share their personal stories in the realm of literature, to political ends. Nina Schmidt is a postdoctoral researcher in the Friedrich Schlegel Graduate School of Literary Studies at the Freie Universitat Berlin.

Methamphetamine abuse is a significant problem in the United States. It is used by nearly 530,000 Americans ages 12 and older, but the effects are devastating to family and friends of addicts. In this book, the authors present topical research on the abuse, health effects and treatment options of methamphetamine. Some of the topics discussed include the effects of methamphetamine exposure during brain development on cognition and markers of cognitive function; what rodent activity can tell us about methamphetamine abuse; sigma receptors as a potential target for methamphetamine abuse and dependence and methods for confirmatory analysis of methamphetamine in biological samples.

In this book, the authors present current research in the study of the pharmacology, effects, and abuse prevention in heroin. Topics discussed in this compilation include opiate sensitivity and gender; the role of heroin biomarkers in heroin abuse; dynamic behaviour for heroin epidemic models; current controversies in the assessment and treatment of heroin addiction and heroin addiction in pregnancy.

In recent years, British drug policy has undergone a transformation: tackling 'drug-driven' crime through criminal justice interventions has arguably become the central priority and focus. The 'criminal justice turn', as the authors refer to current UK drugs policy, is based on three simple and linked assumptions: drug-driven property crime is a major driver of local area crime rates, especially in deprived neighbourhoods; the criminal justice system can be used to target these drug-motivated offenders and direct them into treatment; and treatment can lead to significant reductions in their offending. Tough Choices: Risk, Security and the Criminalization of Drug Policy explores a series of questions about the 'criminal justice' turn in British drugs policy, from why it happened at all to what led policy to unfold in the way that it did, by analyzing policy documents and over 200 interviews conducted with key players in the policy development and implementation process. At the practice level, the authors explore how the strategic vision of the drug-crime 'problem' has shaped the ways in which drug-using offenders are identified, targeted and managed - in other words, why the implementation of the Drug Interventions Programme on the ground has taken the forms that it has. This is addressed through a detailed examination of practice in three local areas. Both the emergence of this new policy direction and its implementation in practice can best be understood as part of a wider transformation in governance in which risk-based thinking has become central to the ways in which we seek to address our contemporary insecurities. The book is based on a 30-month ESRC-funded research project on the Drug Interventions Programme and draws on the extensive empirical data generated during the project.

This book presents current research in the study of substance abuse. Topics discussed include cocaine-dependent patients with antisocial personality disorder; drug abuse and neuro-AIDS; alcohol and substance abuse among older adults; sexual abuse in men with substance abuse problems; cognitive dysfunction in cocaine abuse; current controversies in the assessment and treatment of heroin addiction; psychotropic analgestic nitrous oxide (PAN) for substance abuse withdrawal; carisoprodol withdrawal syndrome and new research on methamphetamine abuse.

This book presents and discusses research in the study of drug policies, the effects of substance abuse and addiction and the efforts being made to stop the flow of illegal drugs into the United States. Topics discussed include the International Drug Control Policy; Mexico's drug cartels; U.S. assistance to curve the flow of illicit drugs being brought into the country; self-regulation in the alcohol industry and alcohol treatment.

This book presents current research in the study of drug abuse, drug trade and various policies surrounding these issues. Topics discussed include NIDA informational facts regarding steroids; anabolic steroid use and federal efforts to prevent and reduce the use of steroids among teenagers; international drug control policy; illicit drug trafficking and U.S. counterdrug programs in Latin America and the Caribbean; illegal drug trade in Africa and the background, effectiveness and policy issues for Congress regarding drug courts.

While there have always been norms and customs around the use of drugs, explicit public policies--regulations, taxes, and prohibitions--designed to control drug abuse are a more recent phenomenon. Those policies sometimes have terrible side-effects: most prominently the development of criminal enterprises dealing in forbidden (or untaxed) drugs and the use of the profits of drug-dealing to finance insurgency and terrorism. Neither a drug-free world nor a world of free drugs seems to be on offer, leaving citizens and officials to face the age-old problem: What are we going to do about drugs?
In Drugs and Drug Policy, three noted authorities survey the subject with exceptional clarity, in this addition to the acclaimed series, What Everyone Needs to Know(r). They begin, by defining "drugs," examining how they work in the brain, discussing the nature of addiction, and exploring the damage they do to users. The book moves on to policy, answering questions about legalization, the role of criminal prohibitions, and the relative legal tolerance for alcohol and tobacco. The authors then dissect the illicit trade, from street dealers to the flow of money to the effect of catching kingpins, and show the precise nature of the relationship between drugs and crime. They examine treatment, both its effectiveness and the role of public policy, and discuss the beneficial effects of some abusable substances. Finally they move outward to look at the role of drugs in our foreign policy, their relationship to terrorism, and the ugly politics that surround the issue.
Crisp, clear, and comprehensive, this is a handy and up-to-date overview of one of the most pressing topics in today's world.
What Everyone Needs to Know(r) is a registered trademark of Oxford University Press

This book examines the impact of different doses of cocaine on three interrelated measures related to affective behaviours between adolescent and adult mice in order to assess the range of affective and rewarding responses, measure of despair, activity, and reward were used. Such methods included the forced swim test (FST), motor activity (MA), and the conditioned place preference (CPP) tests, respectively. Cocaine was selected, in part, because of its robust psychostimulant properties, its use by millions of substance abusers world-wide, and its well understood mechanism of action. This study may help explain some of the neurobiological underpinnings of these finding because cocaine was especially effective in reducing despair-related behaviour in adolescence compared with adults, yet less effective in as an euphoric agent.

Substance dependence, or addiction, is a relapsing disorder characterised by the loss of control of drug or alcohol intake, or a compulsion to take the substance, associated with the appearance of a withdrawal syndrome after a discontinuation of its long-term use. This book presents and discusses research in the study of substance abuse, including drug abuse and education; binge drinking; the treatment of heroine and cocaine abuse; women and addictions; anabolic steroid abuse and alcoholism and pregnancy.

The cannabis sativa plant, more commonly known as marijuana, has been used medicinally for millenia and continues to play a significant role in medical treatment today. This book presents topical research in the study of marijuana; its uses, effects and legal issues. Topics discussed include measurement of cannabis consumption to assess the role of drug potency in rising rates of cannabis misuse disorders; the influence of marijuana legislation on vulnerable populations; marijuana use among adolescents and its effects and recreational marijuana use in a bariatric clinic population.

"The Economics of Excess" discusses both standard and behavioral economics as they apply to addiction, indulgence, and social policy.
Chapter One provides a thorough discussion of economic models of addiction. The model developed in most detail takes into account both standard and behavioral approaches. The next three chapters examine specific indulgences: smoking, drinking, and overeating. The heart of this book is its comprehensive discussion of what is often referred to as the "new paternalism." Many economists are now challenging the more traditional belief that, unless they are harming others, people should be left to their own indulgences. As more and more economists are arguing for policies that are designed to protect people from themselves, this book offers a serious, yet accessible, discussion of the pros and cons of such interventions.
Written in an approachable style, this book will serve researchers who are new to the economics of addiction and students in a variety of economics and policy courses alike.

Many adolescents and young adults engage in drinking behaviour, which result in acute and chronic negative consequences (eg: unintentional injuries, arguments, unplanned and/or unprotected sexual activities, trouble with police/authorities, poor academic/work performance, suicide, and death), and alcohol dependence. Social influence is foremost among the causes attributed to the initiation and maintenance of alcohol use during this period. This book reviews a number of prominent theories of social influence that are directly relevant to drinking behaviour among adolescents and young adults.

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.

This textbook introduces students to the various arguments for and against the prohibition of recreational drugs. The arguments are carefully presented and analyzed, inviting students to consider the competing principles of liberty rights, paternalism, theories of punishment, legal moralism, and the social consequences of drug use and drug laws. Meyers extends this examination by presenting alternatives to the prohibition/legalization dichotomy, including harm reduction, decriminalization, and user licensing or on-premise use. The presentation invites readers to think clearly about the reasons and principles that should determine public policy and law, while also delving into the deeper philosophical questions underlying the drug prohibition debate. Is it morally wrong to use drugs? If so, would that be reason enough to make it illegal? Are there good reasons in favor of using illicit drugs? Do addicts lack free will, and if so, would it be unjust to punish them? What is (or ought to be) the purpose of punishment? Is the state justified in limiting the freedom of competent adults for their own good? What should be the goal of drug policy, reduced use or reduced harm? The purpose of the book is twofold. First, it is a review of the arguments for and against drug prohibition, a useful tool for policy makers, activists, and concerned citizens with an understanding of the relevant considerations for determining how we should reform our failing drug policy. Second, the book serves as a case study in the deeper issues of justice, the nature of law, rights and liberties, and the public good. Students studying applied ethics, political science, or public policy will benefit greatly from Meyers' approach.

The problems of substance abuse affect not only the abuser but the people involved in his or her life. Family members and significant others often confront therapists, requesting recommendations on how they can contribute to the abusers recovery. The traditional attitude of therapists has been that the substance abuser cannot be helped until he or she is motivated. Therefore, significant others have typically been given little advice or guidance. Family Recovery offers clinicians a structured, research-based approach to working with significant others involved with substance abusers. Unilateral family therapy offers methods for therapists to improve the well-being of concerned significant others of substance abusers and to teach them how to restructure their relationship to the abuser in ways that may enhance the substance abuser's motivation to change. Family Recovery will be useful to both experienced clinicians and those who are training to be clinical social workers, clinical psychologists, family therapists, and substance abuse counselors.

Responding to Drug Misuse provides a unique insight into the current shape of the drugs treatment system in England.

Reporting findings from research linked to the government's ten year drugs strategy Tackling Drugs to Build a Better Britain, the book places these in the context of policy, practice, and service development. It goes on to discuss the implications of these findings for the government s new strategy Drugs: Protecting Families and Communities. Throughout the book contributors reflect on current debates on drug strategies and social policy and consider the relevance of the findings for policy and practice. Topics discussed include:

• recent trends in drug policy and how these link to crime
• responses of dedicated drug treatment services
• service users' perceptions and suggestions for improvement
• the impact of drug misuse on children, families and communities.

This timely addition to the literature on drug misuse will be essential for substance use practitioners, including social workers, psychiatrists, psychologists and nurses. It will also supply helpful guidance for health and social care commissioners and policy providers.

Methamphetamine not only destroys the lives of those who become addicted to it, but affects all corners of society, including innocent children. This important book follows the case of rural Illinois, where in the mid-1990s methamphetamine production and misuse became a significant problem and, as a result, child welfare professionals saw an influx onto their caseloads of children whose parents were involved with the drug. The authors' account of the problems the children face, and of the efforts to help them, sheds useful light on possibilities for many other situations.
Applying a case-based, mixed-methods approach that capitalizes on rich qualitative data, the book examines parental methamphetamine misuse from a sociocultural perspective. Using extensive child welfare investigation data, participant observation, and in-depth interviews, the authors describe the perilous home lives of rural children whose parents misuse methamphetamine, where they are exposed to maltreatment, criminal behavior, and environmental danger. Many children end up with significant emotional and behavioral problems, especially posttraumatic symptoms, that will stay with them for years. Based on this descriptive information and the existing clinical literature, the authors designed a relationship- and narrative-based mental health program, "Life Story Intervention," that draws on rural communities' strengths, such as their storytelling traditions. Pilot data from the program, shared here, suggests some positive results of the intervention on children's psychological functioning.
Eradication of the problems caused by methamphetamine abuse will require years more of concerted effort and collaboration such as that described in this book. Social work and child welfare professors and students, researchers, practitioners, and policy-makers will find inspiration in this account of the success that can result, with this issue and others, when practitioners and researchers join forces to understand complex social phenomena and design, implement, and assess effective interventions.

Substance abuse is one of society's most serious problems. Drugs seem to be readily available even in elementary schools, which attests to the success of the drug purveyors and the failure of law enforcement officials, education administrators and parents. As an example, in the U.S. 2003, there were nearly 1.7 million admissions to publicly funded substance abuse treatment programs. Most admissions (23.2 percent) were for alcohol treatment. Marijuana accounted for the largest percentage of illicit drug admissions (15.4 percent), followed by heroin (14.4 percent). This book presents new and important research dealing with treatments and treatment programs aimed at alleviating the misery and loses to society of this vicious behavioural disorder.