Provides a detailed look at opium today in the context of its long history of use as a therapeutic and recreational drug. Opium use dates back 7000 years longer than any other drug. This book looks at social changes and how they have affected perceptions of opium. Dr. Thomas Sydenham wrote, "Among the remedies which it has pleased the Almighty God to give to man to relieve his sufferings, none is so universal and so efficacious as opium." From this gloving description of opium written 325 years ago to today, perceptions of opium have changed dramatically. Opium is now looked upon with fear more than anything else; along with its derivatives, opium is the most controlled drug in existence some derivatives are unavailable even with a doctor's prescription. The pharmacology and effects are discussed in non-technical terms. Drugs derived from opium, like heroin, and drugs created entirely in the lab, such as methadone, are explained. The Little Book of Opium aids in "harm reduction" by providing useful information that can save lives of people using or experimenting with opium or its derivative. It will also help people better understand their medical treatment when faced with various

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.

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. 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.