NCJ Number
177974
Editor(s)
James A. Inciardi,
Karen McElrath
Date Published
1998
Length
355 pages
Annotation
This book contains a collection of contemporary and classic articles on changing patterns, problems, perspectives, and policies related to both legal and illegal drug use.
Abstract
Contributors cover legal drugs of abuse (alcohol, tranquilizers, and tobacco) and illegal drugs of abuse (narcotics, marijuana, cocaine, and hallucinogens). Other topics include the link between drugs and violence and street crime, HIV/AIDS and injection drug use, drug treatment, and the drug legalization debate. In addition, contributors describe social contexts that frame and influence drug use, relationships between ethnicity and crack-cocaine use, cocaine and the criminalization of pregnancy, and the drug Rohypnol that has been implicated in date rape. Finally, contributors examine drug treatment options such as Alcoholics Anonymous and methadone maintenance and policy considerations in drug control, particularly with respect to drug legalization. References, notes, and tables