NCJ Number
115774
Date Published
1989
Length
336 pages
Annotation
The issue of drug abuse, covered in eight chapters of this book, is complex because it transcends the disciplines of history, law and law enforcement, pharmacology, political science, psychology, and sociology.
Abstract
The first chapter offers an introduction to drug abuse, dealing with moral issues, estimates of the drug abuse problem, the link between drugs and crime, and drug lifestyles and subcultures. The second chapter provides a history of drug abuse, while the third chapter focuses on the pharmacology of drug abuse. Various explanations of drug abuse are presented in the fourth chapter, including physiological and psychological explanations, psychoanalytic theory, behavioral theory, drug use and adolescence, differential association, delinquent subcultures, and symbolic interactionism (labeling). The fifth chapter examines treatment and prevention, with emphasis on chemical responses to cocaine abuse, heroin antagonists, treatment using psychoanalytic and behavior modification approaches, group treatment, and civil and criminal commitment. The sixth chapter deals with economic aspects of drug trafficking. The seventh chapter, in discussing drug law enforcement, encompasses constitutional and jurisdictional limitations, seizure and forfeiture of assets, government agencies responsible for drug law enforcement, and the role of the military. The final chapter reviews drug policies and politics, with consideration given to drug legalization, methadone maintenance, criminal sanctions, civil commitment and mandatory treatment, controlling drugs at the source, and drug testing. 471 references, photographs, and figures.