NCJ Number
177729
Date Published
1995
Length
261 pages
Annotation
This book examines drug issues and the rationales for drug policies from the drug user's perspective.
Abstract
In Part I, "Drugs, Sobriety, and the Metaphysics of Consumerism," the author develops the thesis that words like "sober" and "drug-free" are meaningless and that "sobriety" is a cultural construction created for the furtherance of a political and economic agenda. The fact that the legal history shows a cumulative and piecemeal process suggests that the current notion of sobriety is the result of nearly a century of social engineering. The second section considers drug effects from the user's perspective. The thesis developed in this section is that drug effects are not universally negative or dangerous to the user and to society. He argues that the problems raised by a particular person's choosing to ingest drugs are so complex and the number of variables so large that generalization about a drug's effects are dangerous and inane. Part III of the book presents five drug studies that focus on the effects of particular drugs as well as combinations of drugs, and Part IV discusses various problem behaviors associated with drugs, namely violence, money issues, and sexual behavior. The concluding chapter summarizes the concept of pharmacology as an interacting technology whose effects and performance depend not only on the nature of the drug itself, but on who manufactures it, who takes it, who administers it, and under what circumstances. Drugs of any type are neither totally destructive nor constructive; its effects depend on a variety of variables that determine how the technology is used. A 105-item bibliography and a subject index