NCJ Number
235990
Editor(s)
Gabriel G. Nahas,
Henry C. Frick II
Date Published
1981
Length
396 pages
Annotation
Papers presented at a symposium on "Drug Abuse in the Modern World" discuss all aspects of drug abuse, with a view toward developing a perspective and guidelines for combating drug abuse in the decade of the 1980s.
Abstract
Papers are presented by many of the most knowledgeable experts in this field from the United States, Canada, and Europe. As a whole, the papers emphasize the pharmacological effects of addictive drugs on the brains of users. Eight papers focus on the "Pharmacological and Medical Aspects" of drug addiction. These papers address a pharmacological classification of drugs of abuse, psychiatric disorders related to drug abuse, the effect on children and adolescents of mind-altering drugs, marijuana-induced psychoses, the medical and non-medical use of psychotropic drugs, how drugs of abuse affect reproductive functions, and the pharmacological treatment of addictive disorders. Eight papers focus on the impact of drug use within various professional and social contexts, including schools, the family, athletics, the workplace, the military, the medical profession, and in a therapeutic community. Eight papers focus on the social aspects of drug abuse in terms of cultural values, media coverage, religious mysticism, the legal world, and drug education. Eight papers consider aspects of "Drug Abuse in the World." Issues considered include drug addiction as a type of epidemic, cannabis use in the adolescent culture of the Western world, drug abuse in Western Europe, the lucrativeness of the drug trade, drug abuse in the Eastern bloc and China, and the role of the World Health Organization in addressing drug addiction in the third world. Ten papers provide a "Perspective for the Eighties" that involves a comprehensive drug policy that includes treatment, prevention, legislation, law enforcement, and research. Chapter references, appended supplementary information, and author and subject indexes