Drugs, Alcohol, and Social Problems, a collection edited James D. Orcutt and David R. Rudy, includes 14 clearly written articles that exemplify the best... of sociological scholarship on drug and alcohol problems. The readings strike a balance between constructionist, epidemiological, and ethnographic approaches to the study of drinking, drug use, and related problems such as domestic violence, crime, and the spread of HIV/AIDS. A general introduction and five section introductions written especially for this volume highlight basic theoretical questions and analytical themes that run through the articles. In contrast to many books on problems of substance use, Drugs, Alcohol, and Social Problems devotes equal attention to drug- and alcohol-related issues. The volume is organized around important theoretical and research approaches to the sociology of social problems, making it suitable for adoption as a supplement in undergraduate courses on social problems as well as for more specialized undergraduate and graduate courses in the area of drug and alcohol studies.

Using the best scientific evidence, Drugs: America's Holy War explores the impact and cost of America’s "War on Drugs" – both in tax spending and... in human terms. Is it possible that US drug policies are helping to proliferate, not prevent, a multitude of social ills including: homicide, property crime, the spread of AIDS, the contamination of drugs, the erosion of civil liberties, the punishment of thousands of non-violent people, the corruption of public officials, and the spending of billions of tax dollars in an attempt to prevent certain drugs from entering the country? In this controversial new book, award-winning economist Arthur Benavie analyzes the research findings and argues that an end to the war on drugs, much as we ended alcohol prohibition, would yield enormous international benefits, destroy dangerous and illegal drug cartels, and allow the American government to refocus its attention on public well-being.

An up-to-date overview of behavioral pharmacology.   Drugs & Behavior starts with descriptions of basic pharmacological concepts of drug... administration and pharmacokinetics, research methodology including clinical trials, tolerance and withdrawal, drug conditioning, addiction processes, and the neuroscience of drug action. Each chapter applies these concepts to different classes of recreational and therapeutic drugs.   Each chapter also includes a section on the history of the drug class being described to place the drugs in their historical and social context. The text is written to be understandable to students without a background in pharmacology, neuroscience, or psychology.   Learning Goals Upon completing this book, readers should be able to: Understand the behaviors of people who use drugs as medicine and for recreation Understand new trends and developments in pharmacology Identify the subjective, behavioral, and neurological differences between the use of both classes of drug   Note: MySearchLab does not come automatically packaged with this text. To purchase MySearchLab, please visit: www.mysearchlab.com or you can purchase a ValuePack of the text + MySearchLab (at no additional cost): ValuePack ISBN-10: 0205900909.

Clear and readable for the average reader – yet comprehensive enough for the professional – this reliable reference addresses the effects of... high-use, high-abuse drugs in America in a timely and straightforward fashion. Reflects up-to-date research throughout, including coverage of street, over-the-counter, and prescriptive drugs. Highlights the World Wide Web as a growing primary source of drug information. Extensively revises coverage of drug discovery, including major additional information on proteomics, and pharmacogenomics; and highlights the importance of these topics in the context of personalized drug treatment. For professionals in health and drug education, criminal justice, sociology, biology, and chemistry.

For undergraduate courses in Drugs and Behavior Psychopharmacology, as well as graduate survey courses in Psychopharmacology.   This text gives an... up-to-date description of the field of Behavioral Pharmacology. It starts by describing basic pharmacological concepts of drug administration and pharmacokinetics, research methodology including clinical trials, tolerance and withdrawal, drug conditioning, addiction processes, and neuroscience of drug action. Each chapter, thereafter, applies these concepts to different classes of both recreational and therapeutic drugs. Each chapter includes a section on the history of the drug class that places the drug in its historical and social context. It is written to be understandable to students without a background in Pharmacology or Neuroscience or Psychology.

Taking an ethnographic approach to understanding urban violence, Enrique Desmond Arias examines the ongoing problems of crime and police corruption that... have led to widespread misery and human rights violations in many of Latin America's new democracies. Employing participant observation and interview research in three favelas (shantytowns) in Rio de Janeiro over a nine-year period, Arias closely considers the social interactions and criminal networks that are at the heart of the challenges to democratic governance in urban Brazil.Much of the violence is the result of highly organized, politically connected drug dealers feeding off of the global cocaine market. Rising crime prompts repressive police tactics, and corruption runs deep in state structures. The rich move to walled communities, and the poor are caught between the criminals and often corrupt officials. Arias argues that public policy change is not enough to stop the vicious cycle of crime and corruption. The challenge, he suggests, is to build new social networks committed to controlling violence locally. Arias also offers comparative insights that apply this analysis to other cities in Brazil and throughout Latin America.

In a globalized world, people, ideas, organizations, and commodities--including drugs--flow rapidly from place to place and are tied together through... the market, advanced communication systems, and rapid transportation technologies. Drug distribution and use both reflect and reinforce an exploitive political economy that has connected the West with developing nations since the rise of capitalism. Singer's fast-moving, authoritative treatment examines the impact of legal and illegal drug distribution and use on relations among richer and poorer nations, in particular their influence on social and economic development in the Third World. Guided by a critical perspective and drawing on his own crosscultural research in Asia, Latin America, and the Caribbean, Singer analyzes drug-related developmental challenges around the world and assesses the impact of licit and illicit drug use, drug trafficking, the War on Drugs, and drug-related health consequences like HIV/AI! DS.

"...the authors provide a detailed review of existing drug policy in the United States and an excellent and thorough review of the effects of both legal... and illegal substances. One of the book's outstanding features is its comprehensive coverage of policy regarding legal and non legal drugs...this book is also extremely thought provoking and challenges readers to consider the foundation of their own perspectives on drugs and drug policies." -PSYCCRITIQUESDrugs and Drug Policy: The Control of Consciousness Alteration provides a cross-national perspective on the regulation of drug use by examining and critiquing drug policies in the United States and abroad in terms of their scope, goals, and effectiveness. In this engaging text, authors Clayton J. Mosher and Scott Akins discuss the physiological, psychological, and behavioral effects of legal and illicit drugs; the patterns and correlates of use; and theories of the “causes” of drug use.

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. 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.

“Engaging, evocative. . . . [Bloom] is a supple, clear writer, and his parade of counterintuitive claims about pleasure is beguiling.”—NPRWhy is... an artistic masterpiece worth millions more than a convincing forgery? Pleasure works in mysterious ways, as Paul Bloom reveals in this investigation of what we desire and why. Drawing on a wealth of surprising studies, Bloom investigates pleasures noble and seamy, lofty and mundane, to reveal that our enjoyment of a given thing is determined not by what we can see and touch but by our beliefs about that thing’s history, origin, and deeper nature.

This collection of essays explores the complex and contested histories of drugs and narcotics in societies from ancient Greece to the present day. It... shows that the major substances so used, from herbs of the field to laboratory-produced synthetic medicines, have a healing potential, and have been widely employed both within and outside the medical profession. Many of these substances, if taken improperly, are also highly toxic or even lethally poisonous. Some, being mood-influencing and habit-forming, are open to abuse and lead to addiction and are even objects of international contraband trade and the targets of "drug wars."

The Tenth Edition of Drugs and Society clearly illustrates the impact of drug use and abuse on the lives of ordinary people and provides students with a... realistic perspective of drug-related problems in our society. Written in an objective and user-friendly manner, this best-selling text continues to captivate students by incorporating personal drug use and abuse experiences and perspectives throughout. Statistics and chapter content have been revised to include the latest information on current topics.

Thoroughly revised and updated, Drugs and Society, Eleventh Edition, contains the most current information available concerning drug use and abuse.... Written in an objective and user-friendly manner, this best-selling text continues to captivate students by taking a biological approach to the impact of drug use and abuse on the lives of ordinary people. The Eleventh Edition incorporates the authors combined expertise in pharmacology, drug abuse, and sociology and extensive experience in research, teaching, drug policy-making, and drug policy implementation and includes hundreds of new citations that reflect the current state of drug abuse issues and the rapidly changing issues of substance abuse/addiction.