The Substance Abuse Problems, Volume 1

“It is quite possible that long before humans planted crops, they already had a good working knowledge of the local plants that could alter their consciousness. . . . The search for mind-altering roots, leaves, and cacti continues, but it is overshadowed these days by the sterochemists's computerized scanning of peotentially consciousness-altering molecular configurations.” So begins Sidney Cohen's comprehensive survey of modern day drug use and abuse. The Substance Abuse Problems, Volumes 1 and 2 are highly regarded compilations of current insights into substance abuse. Dr. Cohen explores the drug user--including adolescents and the elderly; the drugs-- cocaine, marijuana, alcohol, tobacco, hallucinogens; diagnosis and treatment issues; and the implications of drug use for society.Volume 1 This invaluable text has been unanimously embraced by a wide array of professionals for its remarkable clarity and practicality as a comprehensive view of substance abuse problems, including alcohol and tobacco abuse. The Substance Abuse Problems is a compilation of essays on current problems of drug abuse and alcoholism--legal and illegal drugs, effects of abuse, trends in drug abuse, the global nature of the problem, various diagnoses and treatments, and special groups involved with the use of drugs. Leading expert Sidney Cohen translates the overwhelming abundance of information available into a compact and highly readable summary. Volume 2: New Issues for the 80s In this second volume, Sidney Cohen again deals authoritatively with today's controversies and questions in the area of alcohol and drug abuse. In addition to the specific drugs and their effects and side effects, conceptual problems and fundamental issues about the abuse of mind-altering chemicals are explored. This volume is a reliable resource that offers accurate and up-to-date information on an array of drug-related topics. Written in a concise and readable style that clearly distinguishes facts, controversies, and opinions, this valuable book will help make complex subjects comprehensible and should, like the preceding volume, be of great use to a wide variety of professionals and students. Reasons to buy:

• Common concerns and current information about the entire spectrum of abused substances
• Comprehensive yet concise
• Extensive references
• Well-organized with many section headings
• Question-and-answer format
• Written by a well-qualified, experienced physician and pharmacologist
• Scientific and logical approach
• Recommended for professionals in the fields of alcohol and drug addiction, medical students, paraprofessionals, and lay people
• Order both volumes as a set and save Facts You Should Know--from The Substance Abuse Problems, Volumes 1 and 2:
• Addictive diseases are related to 25 of all deaths in the country. This amounts to half a million people a year dying from alcohol, tobacco, and drug abuse.
• We have the technology to synthesize enormously potent opiods without utilizing opium poppies, cocaine-like compounds without coca leaves, and hallucinogens without resorting to pexote cacti or any other plant. Nor would these products be illegal because they are not named in the control legislation. By the time they were controlled, the psychochemists would have moved on to new and slightly different molecular configurations.
• Many aspects of the 1980 presidential race were unusual, but in one respect it was unique. Never before have four of the leading candidates or quasi-candidates had close relatives who have publicly acknowledged that they had been in trouble with alcohol. (Betty Ford, Billy Carter, Joy Baker, and Joan Kennedy)
• The juvenilization of abusive drug-taking has important implications . . . all previous drug fads occurred in adults. Why this pediatric dominance? Perhaps it is because, for the first time, youth has the affluence and the freedom to indulge.
• Multihabituation,

Contents VOLUME I Foreword

• Introduction
• Acknowledgments
• Part I: Drugs: Legal and Illegal
• Pharmacology of Drugs of Abuse
• Marijuana: Recent Research
• Marijuana: Some Questions and Answers
• Marijuana Issues
• The Sex-Pot Controversy
• Science, the Press, and Marijuana
• Marijuana: A New Ball Game?
• Solvent and Aerosol Intoxication
• Inhalant Abuse
• Amyl Nitrite Rediscovered
• Household Hallucinogens
• Angel Dust: The Pervasive Psychedelic
• PCP (Angel Dust): New Trends in Treatment
• The Witches' Brews
• Cocaine
• MethadoneDiversion
• Internal Opioid Compounds
• Polydrug Abuse
• Alcohol-Drug Combinations
• Drug X: The Most Dangerous Drug on Earth
• Drug X: Another Point of View
• Sleep and Sleeping Pills
• The Barbiturates: Has Their Time Gone?
• The Methaqualone Story
• Valium: Its Use and Abuse
• The Major Tranquilizers
• Tardive Dyskinesia
• The Abuse of Amphetamines
• Ritalin and Preludin
• On the Smoking of Cigarettes
• Part II: Epidemiology and Trend Analysis
• Drugs: The Global Situation
• Trends in Substance Abuse
• The Epidemiology of Heroin Addiction
• The Latin American Connection
• West Berlin: A Drug Abuse Microcosm
• The Many Causes ofAlcoholism
• How Social Drinkers Become Alcoholics
• The Volitional Disorders
• Part III: Diagnosis
• Symptoms and Signs of Drug Abuse
• Skin Signs of Substance Abuse
• Urine Testing for Abusable Drugs
• Flashbacks
• Alcohol Withdrawal Syndromes
• Alcohol and the Liver
• The Fetal Alcohol Syndrome: Alcohol as a Teratogen
• Part IV: Treatment
• Methadone Maintenance
• Methadone Maintenance and Jobs: The Beazer Decision
• Darvon N: Its Role in Opiate Addiction
• Heroin Maintenance: A Solution or a Problem?
• Overdose (OD)
• Heroin Versus Morphine for Pain
• Alternatives to Adolescent Drug Abuse
• Marijuana: Does It Have Medical Usefulness? The Management of Acute Alcoholic States
• Alcoholics: Can They Become Social Drinkers?
• The Treatment of Alcoholism: Does It Work?
• Rehabilitation of the Addicted
• Part V: Special Groups and Situations
• Problem Drinking in Adolescents
• Teenage Drinking: The Bottle Babies
• Lowering the Drinking Age: Effects on Auto Accidents
• Geriatric Drug Abuse
• The Psychopharmacology of Aging
• Alcoholism and Women
• The Drug Dependent Paraplegic
• Doping: Drugs in Sports
• Aggression: The Role of Drugs
• Drugs and Sexuality
• The Drug Schedules
• Psychotropic Drug Interactions
• INDEX