NCJ Number
182082
Date Published
1998
Length
128 pages
Annotation
This volume examines the history of drug use and drug abuse, discusses the effects of various drugs on both individual users and society as a whole, and provides arguments for and against drug legalization, and discusses ways people become high and ways they can stay drug free.
Abstract
This discussion notes that people of all ages and socioeconomic groups use legal and illegal mind-altering drugs and that people in most societies throughout history have used drugs to alter consciousness throughout history. Additional chapters focus on the effects and the patterns of use of LSD and other psychoactive chemicals, stimulants such as amphetamines and cocaine, depressants such as opioids and prescription sedative-hypnotics, marijuana, alcohol, nicotine, and caffeine. Another chapter examines arguments regarding drug legalization, decriminalization, and drug regulation and outlines drug laws and drug law reforms. The final chapter examines the reason people use drugs and describes alternatives to satisfy needs in a variety of areas of experiences, including the physical, the sensory, the emotional, the interpersonal, the mental or intellectual, the aesthetic, the stylistic, the social, the spiritual, and others. Chapter reference notes, index, list of resource organizations, and 29 suggested readings