Psychotropic drugs - those intended to change moods, numb anxiety, prop up sagging libidos or calm children - are pervasive in American culture. References are everywhere: not just in print and electronic advertisements, but in television show dialogue, movies, song lyrics, and on advertising paraphernalia like notepads, wall clocks, mouse pads, coffee mugs, pens and pencils. The authors in this compilation of essays on psychotropic drugs and mass culture contend that society has been transformed into a wall-less asylum - a ""psychotropia."" With each new definition of a mental ailment, a new cure is offered, increasing the number of inmates in this borderless asylum and blurring the lines between mental health and mental illness. Eight essays probe this issue, with an introduction and conclusion by the editor. The introduction frames the topic in the dehumanized asylums brought to light in 1961, by sociologist Erving Goffman, and in author Marshall McLuhan's warning not to be seduced by the media. The essay topics cover: how psychotropia came to be; drug portrayal in Hollywood; advertising in cyberspace and the postmodern condition; the advertising madness that promotes better living through chemistry; food as medicine; the music culture and psychotropia: children and psychotropic drugs; and stereotypes and manipulation in mass marketing.

Do marijuana users cut back on consumption when the price rises? To what degree is marijuana consumption related to drinking and tobacco usage? What would happen if marijuana were legalised and taxed in the same way as alcohol and tobacco? Is marijuana priced in a similar way to other goods? Economics and Marijuana deals with these and other questions by drawing on a rich set of data concerning the consumption and pricing of marijuana in Australia, a country where the drug has been decriminalised in some, but not all, states. The book applies the economic approach to drugs to analyse consumption, pricing and the economics of legalising the use of marijuana. The result is a fascinating analysis of this widely used, but little understood illicit drug that provides much needed information and policy advice for a wide range of readers, including economists, policy makers and health professionals.

In the pursuit of more muscle, enhanced strength, sustained endurance and idealised physiques, an increasing number of elite athletes, recreational sport enthusiasts and body-conscious gym-users are turning to performance and image enhancing drugs and substances (PIEDS). In many instances, such use occurs with little regard for the health, social and economic consequences. This book presents a nuanced, evidence-based examination of PIEDS. It provides a classification of PIEDS types, physical impacts, rates of use, user profiles, legal and sporting status, and remedial program interventions, covering both elite and recreational use. It offers the perfect guide to assist students, government policy makers and sport managers in understanding the complex issues surrounding PIEDS consumption.

Methadone has been used successfully as a substitution agent for heroin dependency for more than 30 years. As a result of its success, other effective methods of treatment have been neglected. Established as a key text on all treatment options for drug misusers, Community Treatment of Drug Misuse: More Than Methadone has been highly praised for its practical orientation based on a solid research background. For the second edition, all the main evidence-based and more pragmatic treatment approaches are reviewed, not only in the management of opiate dependence, but across the range of drugs. It focuses extensively on developments in the last few years as a result of policy initiatives and research findings, including coverage of buprenorphine treatment, the systematic treatment of cocaine abuse and work with special patient groups. This is of direct relevance to medical as well as non-medical practitioners undertaking clinical work in the addictions.

Recreational drug use is a world-wide phenomenon. Despite the best efforts of governments, the public fascination with drugs shows no signs of abating. With media accounts of illegal drug use often verging on the hysterical, this book provides a refreshingly balanced and honest account of drug use throughout the world, one based on scientific fact, and not on dogma.
The book examines all the drugs currently used throughout the world, looking at their effects and side-effects. Why do peple use drugs? Why do they become addicted? What are the lessons to be learned from making drugs illegal?
Updated for the third edition with chapters rewritten to take account of scientific, epidemiological and political developments since the second edition, and with a new section on the present and future US drug policy from high-profile contributors, the book provides a much needed rational approach to the problem of drug use.

Prodependence revolutionized addiction healthcare by improving the ways we treat loved ones of addicts and other troubled people by offering them more dignity for their suffering rather than blame for the problem. This revised edition builds on the model, revealing many more ways to put the method into practice and strategies for setting healthy boundaries. Do you love an addict? Do you sometimes feel like their addiction is your fault? Are people calling you codependent? If our treatment toward loved ones of addicts alienates them, it's time we change our approach. With Prodependence, Dr. Robert Weiss offers us the first fully new paradigm in nearly 40 years for helping those who love and care for addicts. An attachment-focused model, prodependence recognizes that no one can ever love too much, nor should anyone be pathologized for whomever they choose to love as is often the case. Prodependence informs caregivers how to love more effectively, but without having to bear a negative label for the valuable support they give. When treating loved ones of addicts and other troubled people using prodependence, we need not find something "wrong" with them. Instead, we acknowledge the trauma and inherent dysfunction that occurs when living in relationship with someone whose life is failing and keep moving forward. Validating a caregiver's painful journey for what it is opens the door to support them in useful, non-shaming ways. Helping people take incremental, positive steps toward intimate healing is what Prodependence is all about!

Drug-Crime Connections challenges the assumption that there is a widespread association between drug use and crime. Instead, it argues that there are many highly specific connections. The authors draw together in a single volume a wide range of findings from a study of nearly 5,000 arrestees interviewed as part of the New English and Welsh Arrestee Drug Abuse Monitoring (NEW-ADAM) programme. It provides an in-depth study of the nature of drug-crime connections, as well as an investigation into drug use generally among criminals and the kinds of crimes that they commit. They explore topics that previously have fallen outside the drug-crime debate, such as gender and drugs, ethnicity and drugs, gangs, guns, drug markets, and treatment needs. The book provides both an up-to-date review of the literature and a concise summary of a major study on the connection between drug use and crime.

The essays in this volume offer a thorough discussion of the relationship between addiction and rationality. This book-length treatment of the subject includes contributions from philosophers, psychiatrists, neurobiologists, sociologists and economists. Contrary to the widespread view that addicts are subject to overpowering and compulsive urges, the authors in this volume demonstrate that addicts are capable of making choices and responding to incentives. At the same time they disagree with Gary Becker's argument that addiction is the result of rational choice. The volume offers an exposition of the neurophysiology of addiction, a critical examination of the Becker theory of rational addiction, an argument for a 'visceral theory of addiction', a discussion of compulsive gambling as a form of addiction, several discussions of George Ainslie's theory of hyperbolic discounting, analyses of social causes and policy implications, and an investigation of the problem of relapse.

The twentieth century saw a remarkable upsurge of research on drugs, with major advances in the treatment of bacterial and viral infections, heart disease, stomach ulcers, cancer, and mental illnesses. These, along with the introduction of the oral contraceptive, have altered all of our lives. There has also been an increase in the recreational use and abuse of drugs in the Western world. This Very Short Introduction, in its second edition, gives a non-technical account of how drugs work in the body. Reviewing both legal (alcohol, nicotine, and caffeine) and illegal drugs, Les Iversen discusses why some are addictive, and whether drug laws need reform. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.

Addictive disorders are characterised by a division of the will, in which the addict is attracted both by a desire to continue the addictive behaviour and also by a desire to stop it. Academic perspectives on this predicament usually come from clinical and scientific standpoints, with the 'moral model' rejected as outmoded. But Christian theology has a long history of thinking and writing on such problems and offers insights which are helpful to scientific and ethical reflection upon the nature of addiction. Chris Cook reviews Christian theological and ethical reflection upon the problems of alcohol use and misuse, from biblical times until the present day. Drawing particularly upon the writings of St Paul the Apostle and Augustine of Hippo, a critical theological model of addiction is developed. Alcohol dependence is also viewed in the broader ethical perspective of the use and misuse of alcohol within communities.

This wide-ranging handbook brings together experts in the sociology of drug abuse prevention. Providing a comprehensive overview of the accumulated knowledge on prevention theory, intervention design, and development and prevention research methodology, this work also promotes prevention science as an evolving field in the practice and policy of drug abuse prevention.

Why do people smoke? Taking a unique approach to this question, Jason Hughes moves beyond the usual focus on biological addiction that dominates news coverage and public health studies and invites us to reconsider how social and personal understandings of smoking crucially affect the way people experience it. "Learning to Smoke" examines the diverse sociological and cultural processes that have compelled people to smoke since the practice was first introduced to the West during the sixteenth century.
Hughes traces the transformations of tobacco and its use over time, from its role as a hallucinogen in Native American shamanistic ritual to its use as a prophylactic against the plague and a cure for cancer by early Europeans, and finally to the current view of smoking as a global pandemic. He then analyzes tobacco from the perspective of the individual user, exploring how its consumption relates to issues of identity and life changes. Comparing sociocultural and personal experiences, Hughes ultimately asks what the patterns of tobacco use mean for the clinical treatment of smokers and for public policy on smoking. Pointing the way, then, to a more learned and sophisticated understanding of tobacco use, this study will prove to be essential reading for anyone interested in the history of smoking and the sociology of addiction.

In a remarkable and broad-ranging narrative, Yangwen Zheng's book explores the history of opium consumption in China from 1483 to the late twentieth century. The story begins in the mid-Ming dynasty, when opium was sent as a gift by vassal states and used as an aphrodisiac in court. Over time, the Chinese people from different classes and regions began to use it for recreational purposes, so beginning a complex culture of opium consumption. The book traces this transformation over a period of five hundred years, asking who introduced opium to China, how it spread across all sections of society, embraced by rich and poor alike as a culture and an institution. The book, which is accompanied by a fascinating collection of illustrations, will appeal to students and scholars of history, anthropology, sociology, political science, economics, and all those with an interest in China.

While many books have focused on the production of opium and its political and economic importance, this is the first to consider the social and cultural implications of its consumption. The story begins in the mid-Ming dynasty, where it was a tribute from vassal states and used as an aphrodisiac in the Ming court. Collectively, the Chinese people of different classes and regions redefined a foreign way of recreation and developed a complex culture of consumption around its use. The book traces this transformation over a period of five hundred years, asking who introduced opium to China, how it spread across all sections of society, embraced by rich and poor alike as a culture and an institution. The book, which is accompanied by a fascinating collection of illustrations, will appeal to students and scholars of history, anthropology, sociology, political science, economics, and all those with an interest in China.

This book represents a systematic and broadly based discussion and evaluation of the Gateway Hypothesis, according to which young people who progress in the use of drugs follow a specific sequence from the use of tobacco or alcohol to the use of illicit drugs to the use of illicit drugs other than marijuana. This volume evaluates the strengths and weaknesses of the hypothesis from multiple disciplinary perspectives representing sociology, psychology, epidemiology, statistics, animal behavior, molecular biology and prevention.

This book represents a systematic and broadly based discussion and evaluation of the Gateway Hypothesis, according to which young people who progress in the use of drugs follow a specific sequence from the use of tobacco or alcohol to the use of illicit drugs to the use of illicit drugs other than marijuana. This volume evaluates the strengths and weaknesses of the hypothesis from multiple disciplinary perspectives representing sociology, psychology, epidemiology, statistics, animal behavior, molecular biology and prevention.

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."

Drug addiction as a brain disease is this book's theme. Among the many volumes on drugs written for lay readers, it is unique in the breadth and depth of its coverage. In clear scientific terms-- with may striking examples from the author's experience as a scientist and clinician --it describes the nature of chemical addiction and addictive behavior, the seven families of addictive drugs, and the muddied effort to develop effective drug control policies and laws.

This meticulously researched study represents the first effort to provide a nonpartisan and objective analysis of how the United States should approach the drug legalization question. It surveys what is known about the effects of different drug policies in Western Europe and what happened when cocaine and heroin were legal in the US a century ago. The book shows that legalization involves different tradeoffs between health and crime and the interests of the inner city minority communities and the middle class. The book explains why it is so difficult to accomplish substantial reform of drug policy.

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.

Prescription drug abuse is a serious and growing public health problem. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, drug overdoses, including those from prescription drugs, are the second leading cause of deaths from unintentional injuries in the U.S., exceeded only by motor vehicle fatalities. Unlike addiction to heroin and other drugs that have no accepted medical use, addiction to some controlled substances can be unknowingly financed by insurance companies and public programs, such as Medicare. This book examines the prescription drug abuse problem in the U.S., along with doctor shopping and the role of Medicaid in this health care crisis.

Why is it that even amidst affluence and power, our culture is plagued by a variety of addictions? In this pioneering work, Bruce Wilshire searches for answers by giving serious attention to our genetic legacy from our hunter-gatherer ancestors as well as to the unique ways we adapt to our environment through the practice of science and the creation of art and cities. The work considers remedies for specific addictions_including drugs, alcohol, cigarettes, and gambling_suggesting that wilderness exploration, in the arts, myths, and ceremonies, can help us rediscover what it means to be human creatures. Bringing together the insights of philosophy, religion, cultural anthropology, behavioral biology, and the vast socio-medical literature on addiction, Wilshire ingeniously explores the limits of our adaptive capacity and the costs of depleting the natural regenerative functions of the body.

The essays in this volume offer a thorough discussion of the relationship between addiction and rationality. This book-length treatment of the subject includes contributions from philosophers, psychiatrists, neurobiologists, sociologists and economists. Contrary to the widespread view that addicts are subject to overpowering and compulsive urges, the authors in this volume demonstrate that addicts are capable of making choices and responding to incentives. At the same time they disagree with Gary Becker's argument that addiction is the result of rational choice. The volume offers an exposition of the neurophysiology of addiction, a critical examination of the Becker theory of rational addiction, an argument for a 'visceral theory of addiction', a discussion of compulsive gambling as a form of addiction, several discussions of George Ainslie's theory of hyperbolic discounting, analyses of social causes and policy implications, and an investigation of the problem of relapse.

This book is an action research study of a community at work. The community prevention project set the system in motion, revealing its character and internal dynamics. This process and its context are analyzed from a sociological point of view. It is shown that the type of community prevention that really works and creates sustainable changes, is neither value neutral nor given from above: it adheres to reason, rituals and emotions alike, and requires subjective involvement of the people in the community.